MOSCOW. March 12 (Interfax-AVN) - Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov hopes the upcoming presidential elections in Russia will help improve the situation in Chechnya.
"The presidential elections will hopefully facilitate the restoration of Chechnya and the settlement of the situation. A year ago, Chechnya said in a referendum that it considers itself part of Russia. So, in the first place, we would like Chechnya to become a full- fledged member of the country with the same set of rights and duties as all other regions have - no more and no less," Kadyrov told Interfax by telephone.
Concerning measures that could improve the situation in Chechnya, Kadyrov said that "the Chechen Interior Ministry is capable of fulfilling the most difficult tasks, but has unjustified higher-up agencies representing the federal government above it. The time has come to remove interim interior divisions from the Chechen commandant's offices," said Kadyrov.
"If Chechnya is a full-fledged member of the federation, if no state of emergency or martial law has been introduced there, power must be fully concentrated in the hands of the local authorities, as required by the Russian and Chechen constitution," he said.
He said that the counter-terrorist operation is being conducted not only in Chechnya, but in all parts of the North Caucasus. "The fact that the commanders of the counter-terrorist operation are headquartered in Chechnya must not lead to the doubling of the local law-enforcement agencies' functions," the Chechen president said.