GENEVA -- The United Nations refugee agency said Thursday it was working with other international bodies to organize urgent relief to many thousands of refugees who had fled fighting in Russia's rebel Chechnya region.


Sylvana Foa, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, said the Russian authorities asked the agency's Moscow office Wednesday for help. Other humanitarian aid organizations had also been approached.


"We are all talking to each other about what we can do and how we can do it," she said. "But for the moment we are at the planning stage. We hope to get something under way by next week."


In New York, UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali issued a statement saying "direct delivery of some limited quantities of in-kind relief should start soonest."


The authorities in Moscow said in their request that they had some 37,000 registered refugees, "but we think we are looking at a lot more people than that," Foa said.


Some reports from foreign aid workers on the ground indicate that about 60,000 people fled into the neighboring Ingushetia region before the Russian military advance aimed at ending Chechnya's self-proclaimed independence.


According to these reports, 20,000 more had sought refuge in Daghestan and several thousands were now in other predominantly Moslem areas around Chechnya where there is strong sympathy for the Chechen cause.


Diplomats said an operation of this type mounted by several UN agencies and other humanitarian bodies would overcome the reluctance of refugees embittered by Russian bombing to accept aid through Moscow-controlled organizations.


Many refugees are reported to be housed in railway carriages and schools, with others in private homes. Foa said the flood of people into Ingushetia, which normally has a population of around 250,000, had put a very heavy strain on the region's resources.