STRASBOURG, France, Dec 3 (Reuters) - The Council of Europe's parliamentary

assembly said on Friday that Russia could face suspension from the body if it

continued to ignore pleas to stop its military offensive in Chechnya.

Lord Russell Johnston, president of the assembly, said he was still waiting

for Moscow to respond to a November 4 resolution by the Council's standing

committee urging it to ``abstain from any human rights violation ... avoid

any raids on the civilian population and introduce a ceasefire.''

A continued silence could prompt the Council to suspend Russia when the

parliamentary assembly next meets in January, he told Reuters.

``I wrote on Monday to the president of the Federation Council and to the

head of the Duma to remind them of this resolution, passed with the backing

of Russian deputies, in the hope it would be possible to respect it as soon

as possible,'' Johnston said.

``I am sure that certain parliamentarians will propose suspending the Russian

delegation's credentials, particularly given that Russia's admission to the

Council (in 1996) was very much linked to the first war in Chechnya,'' he

said.

Moscow withdrew from Chechnya after a humiliating defeat in a 1994-1996 war.

Russia has been a member for three years of the 41-nation Council, which is

distinct from the European Union and deals with issues like human rights,

education and culture.

As Russian forces on Friday came a step closer to surrounding the Chechen

capital Grozny, Moscow also mounted a vigorous rearguard action against

Western criticism of its three-month old campaign which has seen some 200,000

refugees flee the region and numerous civilian deaths.

Johnston, who said he decided to write to the Russian parliament's upper and

lower houses after the resolution got no reaction from Moscow, was in Paris

to meet Chechnya's self-styled foreign minister, Ilyas Akhmadov.