More than half of all Russians believe that peace talks should begin soon in Chechnya and that the situation there has not improved in two years, a new poll showed Monday.

In a poll by the All-Russian Public Opinion Centre (VTsIOM), 53 percent of those questioned said peace talks were needed to settle the situation in Chechnya, with 40 percent saying they could see no improvement in the situation compared with two years, and 14 percent saying it had actually worsened.

It was the second time in four days the Kremlin leadership had received bad news from a poll on the situation in Chechnya.

On Friday a poll by Echo Moscow radio showed 69 percent of Russians wished the self-styled "anti-terrorist campaign" against rebel Chechnya was over. 77 percent said they had no wish to hold on to the troublesome republic.

In Monday's poll, only 36 percent perceived an improvement in the situation since Moscow poured troops into the rebel republic on October 1, 1999 to put down a resurgence of separatist activity, three years after its initial withdrawal in 1996.

The same percentage believed the Kremlin should persist with the war in Chechnya, according to the poll reported by the Interfax news agency.

However 55 percent of those questioned said they believed controversial "cleansing" operations by Russian federal forces in Chechnya were necessary and justified. Twenty-four percent of those polled said the operations, which are believed to entail frequent human rights abuses by troops on civilians, were inhuman, while 21 percent were undecided.

Most Russians were at a loss to say who held power in most of Chechnya. The largest category of responses, with 29 percent, was that no one was in charge, while a further 23 percent of respondents said they were undecided.

Only 21 percent of respondents believed the Russian army was in control, with nine percent crediting the pro-Moscow Chechen administration with being in charge. On the other hand, 18 percent of respondents believed the rebels held power in most of the country.

The VTsIOM poll questioned 1,600 people at the end of July.

Moscow has been attempting to create a sense of normality in the republic in the past few months, announcing a partial troop withdrawal, but its efforts have had little effect, and public support for the campaign has been draining steadily away.