Putin's Chechen Visit Dispels Possible Increased Rebel Attack: KadyrovRussian President Vladimir Putin's Saturday visit to Chechnya put an end to rumors on a possible intensification of rebel operations in the republic, head of the Chechen administration Akhmad Kadyrov said Sunday.The chief Chechen administrator told the Interfax at his native village of Tsentoroi that Putin's trip well denied rumors on possible increase of rebel attacks in Mid-April as well as speculated seizure of Chechen cities by rebels. Mentioning the occupation of Grozny by Chechen rebels in August 1996, Kadyrov believed such case would not happen again "under any circumstance." "Now, the time is different, the president is different and the problem is being solved differently, which demonstrates Putin's determination to restore peace and order in Chechnya once and for all," he said. According to Kadyrov, Putin had made it clear to military commanders and local leaders in Chechnya that there had been no possibility to hold any talks with the separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov and his followers. The president also reaffirmed the course to restore the constitutional system in Chechnya, and to unite the breakaway republic with the Russian legal system, he added. Putin made a lightening trip to Chechnya Saturday, inspecting the main military base of Khakala outside the capital city of Grozny and meeting with military commanders and local heads. Before flying to Chechen by helicopter, he laid flowers at the 776 highland in the neighboring republic of Dagestan, where 84 Russian paratroopers died in a battle with Chechen rebels a year ago. |
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