Russian Troops Not to Leave Chechnya When Rebels Still Around: Ivanov

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 07, 2002

Russian Troops Not to Leave Chechnya When Rebels Still Around: Ivanov

Russia will not pull its troops out of Chechnya while rebel leaders and their accomplices have not been "eliminated," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Wednesday.

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Russia will not pull its troops out of Chechnya while rebel leaders and their accomplices have not been "eliminated," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Wednesday.

"I believe it is too early to pull the troops out of Chechnya in the current situation," Ivanov told a press conference in the Far Eastern town of Vladivostok, according to Interfax news agency.

Interfax quoted Ivanov as saying Russia will not withdraw its troops until rebel leaders and their forces have been eliminated in Chechnya.

"I consider it inappropriate to begin withdrawing troops from Chechnya while the chiefs of the rebel armies and their accomplices have not yet been eliminated," he said.

Ivanov also said large-scale operations were currently being conducted in Chechnya, "in which all forces acting in the republicare involved."

"As we can not be sure that the terrorist menace has been suppressed, or at least diminished, it would be premature to startwithdrawing our forces from Chechnya," he added.

Ivanov on Sunday suspended a plan to reduce the number of Russian troops in Chechnya and announced the start of a large-scale operation in the republic following October's deadly hostage-taking crisis in Moscow.

About 50 Chechen terrorists attacked a theater in downtown Moscow on Oct. 23, taking some 700 people hostage and demanding the pullout of Russian troops from Chechnya. The crisis was ended when Russian forces stormed the theater on October 26, leaving some 120 hostages and 41 assailants dead.

President Vladimir Putin stressed a day after the ending of thesiege that "Russia will not reach any agreement with terrorists and will not yield to any sorts of blackmail."

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