MOSCOW. Aug 28 (Interfax-AVN) - Control of Russian operations against Chechen rebels has been handed over from the Federal Security Service (FSB) to the Interior Ministry.
A Thursday meeting of the operations committee in charge of anti-rebel operations summed up the joint performance of the two agencies, an FSB spokesman told Interfax.
"It was noted during the meeting that, as a result of anti- terrorist measures carried out under the guidance of the operations committee, it has been possible to neutralize the greater part of bandit ringleaders, to crush the bandit groups' main forces, and to disrupt their system of control and financial, material and technical maintenance. The successful anti-terrorist operations have made it possible to ensure the necessary level of law and order and public security in the Chechen Republic, intensify the process of restoring social services and the economy, and form bodies of state authority in the republic," the spokesman said.
He said the operations committee, the government commission for the economic and social rehabilitation of Chechnya, and other federal and regional bodies had stabilized the situation in the North Caucasus, had prevented the spread of separatism, Islamic extremism and terrorism in Russia, and had preserved the country's federal structure and integrity.
The spokesman said the committee was now going to focus on the development of a government and the maintaining of law and order in Chechnya.
A presidential decree of June 30, "On Additional Measures for Combating Terrorism on the Territory of the Region of the North Caucasus in the Russian Federation," puts the operations committee under Interior Ministry control starting September 1.