Government and defense officials Friday strongly denied reports that the leaders of the military operation in Chechnya had resigned and left the mission against the breakaway republic in disarray.


But a spate of unexpected and conflicting announcements -- including one by Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin denying that Defense Minister Pavel Grachev had resigned -- left the distinct impression of chaos at the highest level. Chernomyrdin made the remark while on an official visit to India, even though there had been no reports of Grachev's resignation.


Other government leaders added to the confusion. Sergei Yushenkov, chairman of the State Duma's defense committee and a sharp critic of Moscow's foray into Chechnya, said Friday the three men in charge of the invasion, Colonel General Alexei Mityukhin, Lieutenant General Vladimir Chirindin and Lieutenant General Vladimir Potapov, had been removed from those responsibilities but remained with the armed forces.


The disposition of Eduard Vorobyov, the deputy commander of the army's ground troops, became somewhat clearer Friday. It was reported Thursday that he refused orders to continue the war in Chechnya and resigned. His resignation was rejected, Yushenkov said.


"I love the army very much," Vorobyov said in an interview in Friday's Izvestia. He would only confirm that he drew up a resignation letter and turned it in. "I gave it 38 years of my life, and I don't want even the smallest stain on its uniform."


Itar-Tass reported Thursday that Grachev had asked both Vorobyov and Deputy Defense Minister Georgy Kondratyev to resign, but that report, too, was denied in the strongest terms. Also Thursday, the RIA news agency reported that Grachev had sacked six of his top generals, Reuters said.


"That's what the news services say, and that's on their conscience," said Vitaly Laptiv, spokesman for the Defense Ministry. "We supply the official information. The reports of their resignations have no basis in reality."


Government spokesman Valentin Sergeyev said Mityukhin has been in the hospital for two days "for health reasons," adding that reports of a mass defection -- or mass firing -- of Russian generals was nonsense. "We reported it in black and white that all the reports about the resignation of any generals was complete disinformation," he said.


But Yushenkov said Friday that the confusion surrounding the status of Russia's military leadership leaves a distinct sense of chaos at the top.


President Boris Yeltsin has been conspicuously absent from news on Chechnya. He still has the support of the armed forces, Chernomyrdin said while on an official visit to India.


Without concrete leadership, the operation in Chechnya was in grave danger, said John Erickson, a Russian military analyst at Edinburgh University in Scotland. "If the decision-making process is so paralyzed that people are running around like headless chickens, yes, it can collapse," he said.


Morale is reportedly abysmal. Even an army group, Military for Democracy, is urging the president to stop his "unjust war" in Chechnya, according to The Associated Press.


Public opinion is also galvanized against the war. Comparisons with the 10-year war in Afghanistan -- which began 15 years ago this Sunday -- are hard to resist.


Russia faces an equally protracted engagement if it decides to push ahead with the war in Chechnya. On the other hand, unless Moscow buttresses its military command and strengthens its political resolve, the war effort could dissolve very quickly.


"You can't run a war by remote control," Erickson said. "Whatever happens will happen quickly."