GUDERMES. Nov 23 (Interfax-AVN) - Thirty-five members of Doku Umarov's illegal group, some of them from high-ranking positions, turned themselves in in Gudermes on Thursday, Chechen First Deputy Prime Minister Adam Delimkhanov said.
"Ramzan Kadyrov, clerics and law enforcers did a thorough job before this," he said.
"According to the updated information, 35 militants laid down their arms today. They are standing right in front of you. These people were hiding in the mountains and the forests for a long time. Some of them joined the illegal armed unit for some time and then went into the hiding. This period is now over," he said.
"More than 280 people, not including today's group, have voluntarily surrendered in Chechnya since the day National Anti-Terrorist Committee Chairman Nikolai Patrushev made his appeal," he said.
"It was believed that today's group would never lay down their arms. Yet they saw that hundreds of former members of illegal armed units had surrendered and were allowed to live a normal life without any persecution. This changed their attitude," Delimkhanov said.
"The militants who surrendered today received guarantees of a fair analysis of their records from Ramzan Kadyrov," he said.