Campaign chief sacked as Moscow seeks Chechen talks

President Vladimir Putin dismissed the commander of his forces in Chechnya yesterday. At the same time the Kremlin resisted parliament's call for a state of emergency in the republic, insisting that life was returning to normal.

The lower house, the duma, voted unanimously on Tuesday for a state of emergency, arguing that it would keep the army's brutal clean-up operations within the law.

On the same day Colonel-General Gennady Troshev turned down an invitation to exchange his post as commander of the North Caucasus military district for that of the distant and bleak Siberian district, thereby joining the long list of commanders in Chechnya exiled to far-flung posts.

The general, widely seen as an opponent of Moscow's plans to end military activity in Chechnya, said: "There are no complaints about the district and there are no complaints about me as a commander. Therefore, I don't understand the reason for this move.

"If I leave ... I am betraying the district's servicemen and the people of Chechnya, who believe that there is an anti-terrorist operation going on and that it is really nearing an end."

He was replaced yesterday by Colonel-General Vladimir Boldyrev, the former commander of the Siberian district.

A Chechen MP, Aslambek Aslakhanov, said Gen Troshev, a native of the Chechen capital Grozny, was likely to seek the presidency of the republic.

Many considered Gen Troshev an obstacle to Moscow's plans for the "normalisation" of Chechnya.

A referendum on a Chechen constitution is planned for March, and yesterday the Kremlin spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky said Moscow might consider having talks with the most moderate Chechen separatists, provided they had no links to terrorism.

The Kremlin is keen to seem conciliatory and liberal on the Chechen issue, to undermine those who say it is conducting a hardline and bloody campaign against Chechens it regards as "terrorists".

The armed forces, which benefit from the financial and political power the conflict brings them, are broadly opposed to that approach.

The Kremlin line was apparent against yesterday when Mr Yastrzhembsky said that Colonel Yuri Budanov, who is on trial for raping and murdering a 17-year-old Chechen girl, should be punished severely if he had broken the law.

On Monday there was a public outcry when psychiatrists told the trial judge that Col Budanov was insane at the time of the murder, a diagnosis that is likely to bring a lighter sentence.