From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 5/7/2006 8:26 AM
Russia’s Putin Steps Into Power Struggle in Chechnya

07.05.2006

MosNews

Russian President Vladimir Putin has stepped into an increasingly bitter power struggle between the two most powerful officials installed by Moscow in the war-torn province of Chechnya, AFP reported.

Putin is backing Chechen President Alu Alkhanov as a “last counterbalance” against the growing influence of the province’s powerful Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, who unofficially controls a force of several thousand armed men, the liberal Kommersant daily said.

At a news conference in Moscow on Saturday, a day after he and Kadyrov met with Putin, Alkhanov said: “I have been elected by the Chechen people and I continue to exercise my office. The president restated to me that the federal centre wants political peace and goodwill in Chechnya.”

Last month, several people were injured in a shoot-out between security forces loyal to Kadyrov and Alkhanov outside a government building in Grozny, the province’s capital. Kadyrov’s press service later attempted to minimize the clash, saying it was no more than “a run-of-the-mill incident” that started after an argument between two bodyguards.

Kadyrov, 29, is the son of Chechnya’s late pro-Moscow leader Akhmad Kadyrov, who was assassinated in a bomb attack in May 2004. According to the law, he cannot take up the post of president of the province until he reaches the age of 30 in October.
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/05/07/PutChech.shtml