In case CTO regime is cancelled, 20,000 soldiers will leave Chechnya

mar 30 2009, 21:00

About 20,000 militaries men of Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the Russian Federation will be removed from Chechnya, should the counterterrorist operation (CTO) regime is cancelled in the republic; the remaining soldiers will get much smaller salaries and travel allowances.

On March 25, President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov stated that the multi-year counterterrorist operation will be officially over in Chechnya in late March. This initiative was met by pros and cons. However, President of Russia Dmitri Medvedev has instructed the head of the National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC) of Russia to consider the issue at the NAC session on March 31.

The counterterrorist operation in Chechnya was launched in October 1999.

"The servicemen's salaries will be halved, equal to what they get in 'peaceful' regions," a spokesman of the Military Commandant's Office of the republic said ...

Mass grave discovered in Tangi-Chu, Chechnya

Kadyrov: End of Counter-Terrorist Operation in Chechnya Imminent

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov declared on March 25 that the counter-terrorist operation in his republic will be completed by the end of this month and that already by the end of next week all federal limitations on the republic will be lifted. “In Chechnya, the battle against terrorists was completed already a long time ago,” Itar-Tass and Interfax quoted Kadyrov as saying. “According to the information of the special services, the militants in the mountains of Chechnya number 480, but according to my data, there are no more than 70 of them and they will be done for in the coming month.” 

Kadyrov said that the remnants of the militants consist in particular of followers of Dokka Umarov, and he described them as “mercenaries and those bandits who could not go to the prosecutor’s ...

Russia Signals Intent To Wind Down War In Chechnya

March 26, 2009

After 10 years of armed conflict in breakaway Chechnya, is Russia about to declare victory and pull out?

That seems to be the message coming out of Moscow and Grozny in recent days. State Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov said on March 26 that it is time for Russia to end its effective state of war in the separatist republic, where it has battled rebel forces since 1999.

Gryzlov's comments came one day after Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's Moscow-backed leader, predicted that a decree ending Russia's "anti-terrorist operation" would be enacted by the end of March.

"We have completely rooted out terrorism and extremism," Kadyrov said. "There are still certain circles of bandits that run around neighboring regions and make their appearance here. But they do not represent any threat for us.

He continued: "We are building a new economic and political life in the republic. ...