Vladimir Putin: March 23 Referendum - a Landmark Event for Chechnya

Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the referendum on the Chechen constitution due next Sunday as a landmark event in the republic's life. Putin said as much at a routine meeting with the Cabinet.

The president instructed the government to continue keeping an eye on social and economic restoration of Chechnya. He reiterated the need for paying damage to those residents of the republic, who lost their homes in the war years.

Putin reported Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev had expressed the intention of assisting Chechnya's restoration and building a block of flats in Grozny. "Our work should be far-reaching," the Russian president said.