GROZNY. April 11 (Interfax-AVN) - The commander of Russia's North Caucasus military district on Thursday reiterated a promise to seek strict compliance with the law during security sweeps in Chechnya.
Colonel General Gennady Troshev said it is "the Chechen authorities and people" who must assess the order issued late last month on measures to prevent violations by Russian forces.
Under the order, issued by North Caucasus forces commander Lieutenant General Vladimir Moltenskoi, military commandants, local governors, religious leaders, elders, police chiefs, military prosecutors and heads of local Federal Security Service (FSB) branches are to be involved in security sweeps in order to prevent or promptly react to possible violations by soldiers. the first to experience the changes brought about by this order complying with the law," Troshev told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The order has been criticized by several Russian politicians and military experts who believe that it will decrease efficiency of special operations.
According to Troshev, it is not the first document of that kind. "I signed an order instructing the troops to abide by law in operations against bandit formations yet 1.5 years ago," he said.
The general said he had been doing his best to bring marauders to justice since his first days in office.
He said Moltenskoi's order was a response to numerous appeals of Chechen administration chief Akhmad Kadyrov to leaders of Russian law-enforcement agencies.
Kadyrov told Interfax that "even single cases of rowdiness committed by the military against local residents" should not remain unnoticed "if a goal is to reach stability in the Chechen Republic as soon as possible."