Chechen Police To Draft Local Residents

Chechen authorities have launched a policy targeted at a "step-by-step replacement of interim police stations with permanent ones manned with specially trained local residents," stated Vladimir Vasilyev, the Deputy Interior Minister of Russia. According to him, the process of transferring duties from interim police stations to permanent ones has already been started in Northern Chechnya. At the same time, Vasilyev stated that it was unlikely that the North Caucasian group of the Interior Force would be drastically reduced. He said "that the reduction, if there were any, would be protracted."