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Sergei Ivanov said a 180-strong insurgent unit had crossed the Russian-Georgian border into Ingushetia. A federal reconnaissance unit spotted it trying to enter Chechnya and 17 Russian soldiers had been killed in the ensuing battle.

The Defence Minister said the situation in the Chechen Republic was currently stabilising and that the federal authorities controlled it. But Mr Ivanov admitted that the insurgent unit had not been completely defeated.

Mr Ivanov briefed President Putin on the results of his trip to Washington and said he and the US military-political leadership had discussed all aspects of strategic stability, the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the results of the international counter-terrorist operation, as well as the situation in Iraq and Georgia. Mr Ivanov said he had submitted irrefutable evidence of contacts between Georgian authorities and terrorists to the US.

Mr Ivanov also told President Putin about the results of his talks within the format of the 20-member Russia-NATO Council in Warsaw, and that the council had made considerable headway in the sphere of joint counter-terrorist operations over the last three months since its inception.

Mr Ivanov said he was mostly satisfied with the 2003 defence budget and that some of its items could be amended in the second and third reading.

In connection with this, Mr Putin said some State Duma deputies and parliamentary parties had made a number of constructive proposals with regard to the defence budget’s items and asked the Defence Ministry to cooperate with the lower house of Parliament.