The Chechen separatist president, Mr Aslan Maskhadov, has appointed a negotiator for talks with Russia, saying there were "real chances" for peace in the region. The announcement follows President Putin's offer of new talks on Monday, his spokesman said yesterday.
"I think that after the Russian president's new offer, there are real chances to start negotiations as soon as military action ends and to peacefully settle contradictions accumulated (between the Russian and Chechen peoples) for centuries," the spokesman quoted Mr Maskhadov as saying.
Earlier it had been reported that the rebel leader had rejected the call by Mr Putin for rebels to lay down their weapons in preparation for the talks.
"Putin's statement just before the second anniversary of Russian operations in Chechnya highlights the failure of the Russian army and the inability of the Russian authorities to impose a solution," Mr Maskhadov's press service said.
Late on Monday, two years to the week after Russian troops poured into Chechnya to put down a separatist uprising, Mr Putin unexpectedly held out the prospect of peace talks by giving the rebels 72 hours to contact his representatives in the region in order to discuss laying down their weapons.
He did not say what would happen once the deadline expired, but the commander of the North Caucasus military district, Gen Gennady Troshev, said yesterday that if Mr Maskhadov failed to disarm his forces before the deadline, "we will do it for him."
Mr Maskhadov said Mr Putin's statement was designed "to profit from the tragic events in the United States so that the West does not criticise the barbarous actions of Russian troops".
Mr Putin's plentipotentiary representative to Russia's southern region, Mr Viktor Kazantsev, said that working groups had already been set up to organise the disarmament process. "The countdown has begun. Today there is still a possibility of ending this war that everyone is tired of," he said.
Mr Maskhadov said he appointed the deputy head of the Chechen separatist government, Mr Akhmad Zakayev, to carry out negotiations with Mr Putin's envoy.
The Russian president's statement was seen by analysts as an unrealistic call for the rebels to capitulate.
"This is not an offer of talks, it's an offer for the Chechens to surrender," said one military analyst, Mr Pavel Felgenhauer.
"This offer is unreal and unachievable," Ms Tatyana Kasatkina of the human rights organisation Memorial said.