Russian troops have made deep advances into the besieged Chechen capital Grozny, reaching a strategically important square, Russia's ORT television said Sunday.

"According to officers, full control over Grozny will be established in the near future," an ORT correspondent said, reporting from Mozdok, Russia's main military base in North Caucasus just outside Chechnya.

"Though the Minutka square is not yet fully under control, it has been crossed several times by Interior Ministry troops heading for the centre," the correspondent said.

The square, just a few minutes' drive from the heart of the devastated city, was the scene of fierce battles during the 1994-96 Chechen war.

ORT also said the rebels did not have a single line of defence and had ceded some of the districts without fighting, but had left them heavily mined. "They offer fierce resistance only on strategically important squares and street crossings," the correspondent said.

Russian troops started moving into Grozny on Saturday and their commanders have said the operation to take the capital will soon be over.

"Nothing terrible is happening in Grozny, all that is going on is a continuation of the operation to free the city of bandits," ITAR-TASS news agency quoted the commander of Russian forces in Chechnya, Colonel-General Viktor Kazantsev, as saying.

Russian media accounts say the next-to-last phase of the methodical Grozny campaign started on Saturday, but is regarded by the generals as a sideshow to the longer task of rooting out rebel bases in the southern mountains.

Kazantsev, who was a chief of staff during the last Chechen war, said the troops were meeting their tasks and were "tightening the circle around the city." (Chinadaily)