MOSCOW — In a tense standoff, Russian and Chechen forces confronted one another along their mutual border Sunday, as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin told a national television audience that the Kremlin's 1996 peace deal with Chechnya was a mistake.
In heated language reminiscent of the kind used by Russian officials at the height of the 1994-96 Russian war with the separatist republic, Putin said that Chechnya is a criminal state and that Russia must crush its bandit gangs decisively.
Russian warplanes have been pounding Chechnya in recent days, and 30,000 Russian troops moved into positions along the border Sunday. Up to 2,000 Chechen fighters were massed on the other side.
In the aftermath of a series of terrorist bombings of apartment buildings in Moscow and southern Russia, which authorities have blamed on Chechen rebel leaders, the public mood for revenge against the Chechens is high. More than 300 people were killed in the bomb attacks. The most recent, in the city of Volgodonsk on Thursday, killed 17.
Putin made no mention of a ground attack by Russian forces against Chechnya but said that intensive air attacks would continue. It was not clear whether the Russian forces closing in on Chechnya would blockade its border or whether a ground attack was being contemplated, as some Russian media have speculated.
In a lengthy interview on the RTR television network Sunday, Putin said that Russia must either subdue bandits in Chechnya or face new terrorist attacks. He said Chechnya has carried out genocide, pogroms and rapes against Russian people.
"These people must be destroyed. There simply is no other response," Putin said.
While that rhetoric is strikingly similar to what Russian officials used during the war, there is an important difference: This time, there appears to be no opposition to fighting. Grigory A. Yavlinsky, leader of the moderate Yabloko party, was a main opponent of the Chechen war because of the high civilian casualties. But Sunday, he backed the current military campaign.
"We should be prepared for a long and difficult resistance to militarized criminals," Yavlinsky said, reflecting the growing nationalist mood in Russia.
Fueling the strong anti-Chechen sentiment, Russian television has been airing brutal footage in recent weeks of such incidents as kidnappers in Chechnya maiming and executing victims.
