GROZNY, Russia, Jan 15 (Reuters) - A six-month amnesty for rebel fighters in Russia's Chechnya region expired on Monday with Moscow's allies hailing it as a tipping point in crushing the uprising and separatists describing it as a farce. More than 550 fighters have swapped their Caucasus mountain hideouts for civilian life on the promise of not being arrested, Russia's allies in Chechnya say, enough to severely weaken rebel forces they previously estimated at about 800 strong. "Almost all illegal armed groups have been destroyed. Their leaders have either been eliminated or sentenced," Interfax news agency quoted Chechnya's pro-Moscow Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov as saying. But Chechen separatists in exile disagreed. The rebels paraded on television were not fighters but their relatives, Chechens already in prison or separatists who gave up the struggle years ago, the separatists' information agency in exile Kavkaz Center told Reuters in an e-mail. "Not one mujahid has surrendered," the e-mail said, using the word for holy warrior. "All statements by the Russian side on the surrender of mujahideen are propaganda which bear no relation to reality." Despite this defiance, the Chechen insurgency seems to be at its lowest ebb for several years. Crushing the rebellion is a matter of personal pride for Russian President Vladimir Putin. As acting head of state in 1999, he ordered Russian soldiers back into Chechnya, ending a period of self-rule. After several years of fighting, Russian forces and their local allies have stopped the rebels from operating openly. A NEW GENERATION Aslan Maskhadov, the separatists' president, and Shamil Basayev, their most feared warlord and Russia's most wanted man, have both been killed. But it was unclear if the Russian security operations and the amnesty had broken the rebels' ability to carry on fighting. "The main point is that we don't really know how many rebels are in the mountains," said Alexei Malashenko, an analyst at the Carnegie centre in Moscow. "And (we have) no real information on the 'new generation' not only in Chechnya but also in the neighbouring states where there are signs of a new wave of disenchanted men," Malashenko said. On Grozny's tattered streets, war weary residents told Reuters they too were sceptical of the latest amnesty. "I don't believe the amnesty, it's all stage-managed," Zara Estamulova said. The amnesty has boosted the authority of Kadyrov, the pro-Moscow Chechen prime minister who also heads the region's most powerful militia force. Analysts think the Kremlin is grooming the 30-year-old to take over as Chechnya's president. Rebels handed over their weapons not to the Russians but to Kadyrov, himself a former rebel, in televised ceremonies at his home 30 km (13 miles) outside Grozny. "It's about Kadyrov and his grand political line," said Alexei Malashenko, "It's a private amnesty agreed with Kadyrov, all the rebels now deal personally with him." For a related story click on [ID:nL15774278] (Additional reporting by James Kilner in Moscow)
