MOSCOW. July 7 (Interfax-AVN) - President Vladimir Putin declared that Russia will never agree to talks entailing disintegration of the state and particularly Chechnya's secession.
"We know the problems of Northern Ireland. Never has Great Britain in the course of its 400 year history held negotiations with anybody on the basis of a possible disintegration of the state. And we shall not do it either," Putin declared answering questions in the course of the Internet conference on Thursday.
Chechnya held a referendum on a constitution that states that "Chechnya is an indivisible part of Russian Federation" and 80% of Chechnya's people supported it with their votes.
"At that time I was the only person in the Russian leadership who proposed taking that step. I parted from the thought that finally, however dramatic the events there, we should address the opinion of the people," Putin said.
He said that in relation to Chechnya the Russian leadership made rather a brave step by granting the republic more autonomy, "in essence, granting autonomous rights to the Chechen Republic."