By Tara FitzGerald
MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Monday Russia would withdraw some of its troops from the rebel region of Chechnya and place operations there under the command of the FSB domestic security service.
Putin ordered the head of the FSB, a successor to the Soviet-era KGB, to take over the troubled Chechnya command from the Defence Ministry and he said this marked a new phase in "counter-terrorism operations" in the region.
"I have decided today to partially withdraw troops from the republic (Chechnya)," Putin, who announced his decision at a meeting with top ministers, said on commercial NTV television.
"This does not mean the end of the counter-terrorism operation. On the contrary it will be continued, and not less intensively but with the use of different means and forces and with a different emphasis," he said.
Russian troops are nominally in control of most of Chechnya after a 15-month offensive but soldiers remain subject to ambush and officials say around 2,700 have died in the campaign.
Russian military chiefs have said they want to use small, mobile units to eliminate the rebels. Putin is extending powers to pro-Moscow Chechen leaders to try to get Chechnya, shattered by two Kremlin crackdowns since 1994, back on its feet.
FSB spokesman Alexander Zdanovich told a news conference Putin's decision did not rule out the use of Interior Ministry troops if needed, but focused on the use of special forces. "This decision by the president was not a spontaneous one. We have discussed many issues and this is the final result, it is about intensifying and concentrating our forces," he said, adding that operations would now be focused on fighting small bands of separatist rebels and targeting their commanders.
Interfax news agency quoted Putin as saying an army division numbering 15,000 and an Interior Ministry brigade of up to 7,000 servicemen would be permanently based in the region on Russia's southern rim.
WITHDRAWAL WILL HAPPEN GRADUALLY
He added that a supplementary contingent would remain in Chechnya initially but withdraw when conditions allowed this.
The Kremlin's chief spokesman on Chechnya, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, told the news conference that total forces stationed in Chechnya, including army and Interior Ministry units, numbered around 80,000.
Deputy chief of general staff Yuri Baluyevski said the army alone had 40,000 troops and around 170 tanks.
Akhmad Kadyrov, the Kremlin-appointed leader of Chechnya's regional administration, was shown on state-run ORT television saying he applauded the president's quick decision. "Delays were not good for us," he said.
Putin signed a decree on Friday boosting the powers of local leaders in Chechnya, a day after telling ministers to draft proposals on reducing troops and boosting the economy of the breakaway province.
Putin's announcement on Monday comes hard on the heels of media reports of renewed large-scale fighting in Chechnya over the weekend. Russian authorities denied the reports and said there had been only minor attacks and some shooting.
Russian news agencies reported running street battles between Russian forces and Chechen rebels in Gudermes, the restive region's second town, on Sunday. Rebel spokesman Movladi Udugov said fighters had killed at least 20 Russian soldiers and two pro-Moscow Chechen policemen.
"There were no large-scale clashes, much less any mass attacks by militants in Gudermes," said an aide to Yastrzhembsky. "Similarly, there was no eight-hour battle. The shooting was intensive, but rather short. We cannot speak of 20 dead because that is simply absurd."
The official in Yastrzhembsky's office confirmed reports of an attack on a local police post by rebels, resulting in the deaths of four officers, as well as a bomb explosion in a cafe in Gudermes that injured several civilians and one soldier.