GROZNY. Nov 9 (Interfax-AVN) - The strength of the Chechen police will reach 10,000 people in 2002, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry department for Chechnya said on Friday.
An agreement on the matter was achieved after Chechen leader Akhmad Kadyrov applied to the federal authorities, the spokesman told Interfax-Military News Agency.
A permanent police department has replaced a temporary one in the Naurskaya district. The new department comprises only Chechen policemen. Such changes will soon happen in the entire territory of the republic.
The personnel of the Chechen police administration and main services, including territorial bodies, a separate elite police detachment and two patrol and sentry companies numbers about 6,250 people.
As many as 76 Chechens have been trained in the Interior Ministry's educational establishments and training centres in Volgodonsk, Stavropol, Volgograd and other Russian cities this year. Another 83 policemen have been selected for further training.
A training centre for the Chechen police has opened in the Naurskaya district. It can train up to 140 specialists per month, the spokesman said.
As many as 75 officers of permanent police departments have been killed, 117 wounded and two have gone missing this year, the spokesman stressed.
The Interior Ministry department is planning to hold a police parade in Grozny on Saturday, November 10, which is celebrated as Police Day in Russia. The parade will involve department officials and their fellows from departments stationed near the Chechen capital. State awards will be given to distinguished officers during the event.
A spokesman for the Chechnya administration told Interfax-AVN that the time and place of the parade were kept secret due to safety reasons.
Taking into account the past experience, one can guess that the event will occur near the Grozny airport where the 46th brigade of the Interior Ministry troops is stationed or in downtown Grozny cleared from mines and snipers beforehand.