Russian leaders yesterday vowed that their offensive would crush an Islamic insurgency in the Caucasus republic of Dagestan as more than 600 rebels were reported killed. President Boris Yeltsin said "the situation is calm, normal".
Russia's new Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, before being confirmed yesterday in his post by MPs concerned over the latest violence, vowed to defend the country's integrity.
"Russia's integrity cannot be an object of debate, haggling or blackmail," said Mr Putin.
Russia's regional commander, Gen Viktor Kazantsev, told a press briefing in the Dagestani capital, Makhachkala: "Russian troops will regroup on Tuesday [today] and launch a decisive offensive on Wednesday.
"We could have chased Islamic terrorists from Russian territory in 24 hours but I took pity on my soldiers. We have shown again that we know how to wage war. Our losses are minimal. The local population supports us completely," he told ITAR-TASS news agency.
Gen Kazantsev said Russian troops had killed some 600 Islamic insurgents in what is the worst violence in the Caucasus since the 1994-96 Chechen war.
The State Duma, the lower house of parliament, declared the troubles in Dagestan a threat to national unity and urged Moscow to take measures to "wipe out the illegal armed groups".
The rebels claim to have killed 20 Russian soldiers since Sunday night. Moscow says it has lost 14 men in 10 days of fighting. The death toll reports cannot be independently confirmed.
Mr Yeltsin ruled out imposing a state of emergency in Dagestan yesterday despite the fighting.
"Once again I say firmly and resolutely, as the president of the country, there will be no state of emergency," he said in televised remarks. "The situation is calm, normal."
He said Moscow would implement "tough measures" in Dagestan and other Caucasus republics to overcome the Islamic rebels, who crossed from the breakaway Chechen republic on August 7th and seized several mountain villages in Dagestan.
The rebels have proclaimed Dagestan independent of Russia and yesterday announced they were setting up a government of "the Islamic state of Dagestan".
The Chechen warlord, Mr Shamil Basayev, who is leading the rebel assault and was apparently unshaken by the reported losses, said his forces would not relent. "Our final goal is a free and independent Dagestan," he told reporters. "What is happening in Dagestan is Russia's fault. We have come to help the Muslims of Dagestan in their war against the infidels."
Meanwhile, a Russian foreign ministry official alleged on Moscow's Echo radio that the Saudiborn fundamentalist, Mr Osama bin Laden, was financing the rebels. Chechnya declared its own state of emergency on Sunday. But despite the involvement of Mr Basayev, a veteran from the Chechen conflict with Russia, the government in Grozny has denied that Chechen fighters are involved with the rebels.
The fighting has sent some 10,000 Dagestani refugees fleeing the Chechen border towards relative safety near the Caspian Sea shore on Dagestan's eastern border.