The top Russian commander in the north Caucasus refused to concede in an interview published Wednesday that his troops were pulling out from Chechnya as ordered by President Vladimir Putin.
"This is not a withdrawal. I refuse to accept that word," General Gennady Troshev told Russia's official Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily.
"The fact that certain units are leaving only means that this is a planned downscaling of the number of troops in the republic," Troshev said.
Putin on January 18 announced the start of a withdrawal from the separatist republic, where some 100,000 Russian troops fought at the height of the war, which began in October 1999.
However Russian generals have reacted skeptically to the decision, which they said was reminiscent of the humiliating retreat that followed the first, 1994-96 war that left Chechnya with de facto independence but overrun by crime.
Troshev said the pullout -- which is yet to start in full -- will save Russia's starved army valuable resources.
In spite of the force reductions, he said the army would ensure that "all of our problems are solved" in Chechnya.
Few details have been provided of troop movements, but the Russian military command said army troops would pull out first, with the number of interior ministry troops being cut back later.
Russian troops stormed into the rebel republic on October 1, 1999 in what was billed as an anti-terrorist operation.
On Tuesday, Moscow said that 11,000 rebels had been killed in the war. The separatist leadership places the civilian toll in the tens of thousands.
Russia has admitted to losing some 3,000 men in the conflict, which has since degenerated into a bloody guerrilla battle.
Last weekend a wave of bombing attacks in southern Russia, blamed by Moscow on separatist commanders, killed 23 people.
Interfax reported Wednesday that another 79 people remained hospitalized following the three attacks, five of them in critical and another 15 in serious condition – MOSCOW (AFP)
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