"From January 1, 2005, not a single conscript from the Russian defence ministry will be serving in Chechnya. And starting from January 1, 2006, no conscript from the interior ministry will be there," Putin told a televised annual press conference.

"In an initial phase (of military reform), we have to make sure that our conscripts do not serve in 'hotspots'. And of course above all in our country. I am thinking of the North Caucasus and Chechnya," he said.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov last month pledged that all defence ministry troops in war-torn Chechnya will be professional soldiers rather than conscripts from next year

Ivanov said that already nine out of 10 servicemen in the 42nd motorized division, which is permanently stationed in Chechnya, serve on professional contracts.

Some 80,000 Russian troops are based in Chechnya, drawn both defence ministry and interior ministry forces, where a guerrilla war continues to rage more than five years since the latest conflict in the breakaway republic began.

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