MOSCOW. June 24 (Interfax-AVN) - President Vladimir Putin has said it is necessary to stop the so-called "mopping-up operations" in Chechnya.
Yet "this will become possible only after the legal, juridical and law-enforcement components of the Chechen administration are strengthened," he said at a press conference in Moscow on Monday.
He said the law-enforcement component implied efficient interior departments incorporating riot police detachments and other units.
The process is underway actively, and is the next phase of normalization in Chechnya, Putin said. "Chechnya must be protected by the Chechens themselves," the president said.
Putin said that special operations in Chechen settlements will cease by the end of this year, and after that, the question of the Chechen constitution will arise.