Russia's top military officer in Chechnya acknowledged today that his troops had committed widespread crimes in search operations and a Kremlin spokesman said Moscow might have to alter its tactics in the rebel region.
Itar-Tass quoted General Vladimir Moltenskoi as saying in unprecedented self-criticism by the military that it had launched an operation to restore public confidence in its troops after mass detentions in two villages last week.
Prosecutors ordered a criminal investigation on Tuesday into actions in the villages of Assinovskaya and Sernovodsk.
The daily Vremya Novosteisaid Russian forces had herded most male villagers into a field for several hours and beat them. It said many were released after paying off soldiers.
NTV television showed pictures of ransacked rooms at a school in Assinovskaya and interviewed a nurse who said soldiers had rampaged through a hospital and seized one of the patients.
Tass said Gen Moltenskoi, addressing senior officers at Russia's main base in Chechnya, spoke of widespread crimes in carrying out passport checks in Assinovskaya and Sernovodsk.
He ordered commanders to deal quickly with complaints following the operation. News reports said more than 200 had been registered.
"Those who conducted searches in Sernovodsk and Assinovskaya did so in lawless fashion, layingthe place to waste and then pretending they knew nothing about it," Tass quoted him as saying.
Russian Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov last week repeatedly said troops had acted in accordance with legal norms during the operation, launched in response to an attack on a police car.