Chechnya leader displeased with Russian State Duma's actions

In an interview with the RIA Novosti news agency on Wednesday, Chechen leader Ahmad Kadyrov voiced dissatisfaction with the Russian State Duma (the lower parliamentary house), which adopted, Wednesday, in general a resolution on measures to bring life in the Chechen Republic to normal.

The authors propose to consider declaring an emergency in Chechnya, move that a single military and civilian government be formed in the republic. Besides, they deem it necessary to set up the federal ministry for Chechnya, with its head to hold the vice-premier status. And they call for the further withdrawal of the federal defence and interior ministries' troops from the republic.

The State Duma, said Mr Kadyrov, raised those problems the moment political processes started shaping up in the republic, the fact that outraged him the most. He recalled a recent decision to hold a referendum on the republican constitution in Chechnya. "The date of the presidential and parliamentary polls has been nearly fixed, the local interior ministry has been set up and the anti-terrorist campaign is coming to an end," said Mr Kadyrov.

The Chechen leader wondered why "the MPs did not raise those questions back three years ago when militant groupings were perpetrating their outrages in Chechnya, but brought them up now when the Chechens started cherishing hope for a better life."