Russia warns may have individual security ops in Chechnya
MOSCOW. April 16 (Interfax) - Though the counterterrorist operation regime was terminated in Chechnya on Thursday, Russia may carry out individual security operations against local militants, but "only if there is authentic information" warranting such action, Russian Deputy Interior Minister Arkady Yedelev said.
The abolition of the regime "implies tighter control of security agencies," Yedelev, who coordinates the counterterrorist operation regime for the North Caucasus, told Russia's Vesti 24 television.
Yedelev also said the crime rate in Chechnya is "one-thirty-first of that in the worst of constituent territories of the Russian Federation."
Earlier, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said two Russian military units - the 42nd Motorized Infantry Division and an Interior Forces brigade - would stay on in Chechnya because the republic lies on Russia's border with other states and "those forces are on Russian territory as in any other region."
"The leadership of the republic will continue to support the activities of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Chechen republic," Kadyrov said.
He said not a single Chechen policeman was displeased with the termination of the counterterrorist operation regime.
He expressed hope, however, that police and other security personnel would have their current level of pay kept for them for a while.
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