GROZNY. June 16 (Interfax-AVN) - Military commandant's offices of the Russian Interior Ministry will be abolished in Chechnya in the future, Military Commandant of Chechnya Lieutenant General Yevgeny Abrashin said at a joint news conference with a PACE delegation in Grozny on Monday.
"Military commandant's offices of the Russian Interior Ministry in Chechnya will be abolished as soon as the republic's interior ministry can cope with banditry and crime on its own," Abrashin said.
Military commandant's offices of the Russian Interior Ministry were set up in Chechnya in January 2003. They are successfully ensuring conditions for the normal functioning of the republic's departments, he noted.
The Chechen police force is 12,000 strong now, Abrashin said.
The Federal Security Service will start transferring control over the anti-terrorist campaign in the North Caucasus to the Chechen Interior Ministry on July 1. The process will be completed by September 1, 2003, he said. "The anti-terrorist campaign is transforming into a struggle for law and order in the republic," he noted.
A deputy of the Russian interior minister will head the regional headquarters of the anti-terrorist campaign starting July 1, Abrashin said.
"Large gangs in Chechnya have been eliminated and their ringleaders have been destroyed. Rebels are laying down arms following the amnesty. Presidential and parliamentary elections are coming up. All this reflects gradual normalization and political settlement," he said.
Units of the 46th interior division stationed in Chechnya will not take part in daily anti-crime measures, he said. "The status of the Interior Ministry troops is defined by the law, and the brigade will support the law-enforcement departments only when absolutely necessary," Abrashin noted.