Islamic militants pressed their attacks against Russian troops in Chechnya yesterday after Moscow conceded it had made mistakes in its campaign to restore control over the breakaway province.
Russian warplanes and artillery blasted rebel-held areas, but Moscow media, gearing up for a presidential election campaign overshadowed by the Chechen war, began drawing parallels with the disastrous Chechnya campaign of 1994-96.
Russian news agencies said the rebels retained control of much of Grozny, and gave conflicting reports of who now controlled the nearby towns of Argun and Shali, previously said to be under Russian control.
NTV said Russian forces, under pressure from Moscow to make swift progress in Chechnya, had failed to carry out a "thorough cleansing operation" of Argun, Shali and nearby Gudermes when they first entered the towns, making them vulnerable to attack.
"A second `cleansing' operation . . . will be carried out with special thoroughness," ITARTASS news agency quoted sources in Mozdok, Russia's main regional military base, as saying.
The commander of Russian forces in Chechnya, Col Gen Viktor Kazantsev, told ORT television late on Monday the rebel counterattacks would prompt a change in Russian tactics and admitted mistakes had been made.
Meanwhile, Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper said: "For the first time this new war recalls the events of 1994-96," referring to the campaign of those years which ended with a humiliating Russian pullout.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews hopes to go to Chechnya later this week when he visits Russia in his role ad chairman of the council f Ministers of nis Staunton. Speaking in Berlin last night \t the opening of the new Irish Embassy at Checkpoint Charlie, Mr Andrews said that he would make clear to the Russian Government the concerns of other European countries about the campaign in Chechnya.
Mr Andrews acknowledged that permission to visit the troubled republic was in the gift of hid Russian hosts, but he expressed confidence that he would be allowed to do so.