MOSCOW. March 11 (Interfax-AVN) - About 1,000 guerrillas still counter federal forces in Chechnya, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Igor Puzanov told reporters Tuesday in response to a question from Interfax-Miltiary News Agency.
"There are actually about 1,000 bandits and terrorists in Chechnya," he said.
Puzanov stressed that the remaining rebels might attempt to attack in view of the coming referendum on Chechnya's constitution.
"Possible terrorist attacks may be related to an attempt to affect the referendum, rather than to the withdrawal of troops," he said.
At the same time, Puzanov emphasized that guerrillas in Chechnya could not commit a large-scale attack. "Guerrillas do not have enough force for large attacks," he emphasized.
In response to a question from Interfax-AVN, the official said that excessive troops would be further withdrawn from this internal republic: "Having fulfilled their missions, units will be withdrawn to their permanent posts. In the future, the units stationed in Chechnya will have permanent status there," he added.
According to Puzanov, the withdrawal of excessive troops will not affect the situation in Chechnya: "The withdrawal has been thoroughly planned and security will not be undermined," he said. He rejected information that the withdrawal of part of excessive forces and scrapping of 20 percent of checkpoints was related to the referendum that is due March 23.
"I do not think any relation should be drawn between the withdrawal of excessive forces and the referendum. Chechnya's residents often take the withdrawal with suspicion," Puzanov said.
As for the voting of federal servicemen permanently deployed in Chechnya, he said that it would not greatly influence the results.
"The number of the personnel entitled for voting in the referendum is not a number critical for the result," he said.
Puzanov also said that the Armed Forces units in Chechnya were assigned supporting the Interior Ministry Force and the police. The missions of the army will gradually be taken over by law enforcement bodies, first of all by the Chechen police organic to the Russian law enforcement system, manned predominantly by local residents, he added.