Congress of Chechen Peoples addresses Russian president

Participants in the Congress of Chechen Peoples, which is taking place in Gudermes, have adopted an address to the Russian president.

The authors of the document thanked the state leader for "constant attention and concern for the Chechen Republic." "We thank you for what you did to make our people and all peoples of Russia believed it was possible to restore the Constitutional system in the Chechen Republic. It was thanks to your consistent policy that people came to believe that times of friendship and mutual understanding between all peoples inhabiting this country can be restored, and that the Chechen Republic is a fully fledged member of the Russian Federation and an integral part of Russia, where people must, and will, live in accordance with laws that are common for all Russian citizens," reads the document. "The political and economic situation in Chechnya is slowly but surely improving." "Despite the tension that still remains, despite ongoing terrorist acts and subversive activities against the military, administration leaders, teachers and those of the citizens who refuse to cooperate with militants, there are obvious signs of progress in everything, including industry, agriculture, the social sphere, and even cultural life.

"The main achievement is that there has been a radical turn in people's minds. More and more common Chechens and representatives of the national elite come to realize that normal life in the republic is impossible without the salvage of Chechen society, without the revival of self-governing bodies, the traditions of which were mostly lost during the war, and without constant effective cooperation between society and authority.

"Simultaneously, people are coming to understand that Chechnya will be unable to become a fully fledged member of the Russian Federation unless it adopts and enforces a new Constitution of the Chechen Republic and elects a head of the republic's executive authority, representative government bodies, and local self-governing bodies - all of them legitimate and approved by the population.

"We believe that the time is right to revive state governing bodies in Chechnya and the whole system of republican authority." The authors of the address also assured the Russian president that "state governing bodies and the Chechen community will be able to handle all the work and hold a referendum on the draft Constitution of the Chechen Republic."