Mr Putin said appropriate conclusions were being drawn from the errors.

He was speaking as Russian forces carried out their heaviest land and air offensive for several weeks.

More than 180 air sorties were flown by Russian warplanes in the 24 hours to Saturday, as Moscow sought to regain the momentum it lost during successful rebel counter-attacks last week.

There were reports of heavy civilian casualties as Russian forces bombed the Chechen capital Grozny. Fighting was reported in and around the city.

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The Russian Interior Ministry said 58 rebel fighters had been killed while trying to escape from Grozny into the mountains.

"Grozny is an ideal place for street fighting; it is possible to defend it for years," Khizir Khachulayev, a rebel commander, said.

"Russian soldiers will find their death here."

A BBC correspondent in Moscow, William Horsley, said although Russian troops had conducted house-to-house searches in many lowland towns and villages, the rebels had disappeared into the mountains.

'Help Chechen civilians'

Moscow's renewed onslaught came as a senior Russian human rights official criticised the Russian army's treatment of Chechnya's civilian population.

Human rights commissioner Oleg Mironov told Mr Putin that aid had to be sent urgently to civilians affected by the crisis.

In Shali, a village south-east of Grozny where the recent fighting was fiercest, civilians told Reuters news agency that they had become the main victims of the war.

"When will this war end? We are peaceful people, we are not bandits. We have had to live in the cellar for the past four days, not daring to go out," said Aset Mustayeva, 57.

Mr Putin insisted that Chechen civilians were citizens of Russia, and would never be sacrificed for the sake of a military goal. He said Russia would act toughly but not cruelly.

Mr Mironov recommended new laws on assisting civilians caught in such conflicts. The Federal Migration Service supported the initiative, and said it was ready to assist in drafting the laws.

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