Russia general says still 450 Chechen rebels-paper

MOSCOW, Feb 2 (Reuters) Around 450 rebels are fighting Russian troops in Chechnya, a higher estimate than previously given, Russia's top military officer in the north Caucasus, Lieutenant-General Arkady Yedelev, told a newspaper today.

In January a 6-month amnesty for rebel fighters ended with both pro-Kremlin Chechens and the Russian military hailing it as a great success and saying it had weakened separatist forces in the region.

''The number (of rebels) has clearly decreased (from the year before),'' Yedelev told Rossiskaya Gazeta. ''(But) if foreign groups throw money into subversive activities in Russia, the number of bandits may increase again as they are joined by local residents and foreign adventure seekers.'' Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's prime minister and former rebel turned Russian ally, had estimated there were fewer than 100 rebels still hiding in the mountains of the southern region and Russian officials had put the number at about 250.

But Yedelev said: ''Now in Chechnya there are about 46 small groups of bandits operating with around 450 men.'' Russia has fought two wars against rebels in Chechnya since 1994.

It now says the situation there is stabilising though there is still sporadic fighting.

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