| Submit your comments on this article |
| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Chechen boyz number less than 1,000 |
| 2005-03-15 |
| Chechen President Alu Alkhanov believes that the real number of militants in the republic's territory is not 1,000 and more, as some media claim, but "less and far less." Alkhanov made the statement at a meeting with foreign reporters in Grozny on Tuesday. "I've not counted gunmen, and nobody counted them, but I'm certain that their number is not so big as it seems to somebody," the Chechen president said. Alkhanov however admitted that extremists have a certain moral support base. "Let's suppose that there are even 12,000 of those who back extremists in any way, as some assume, but the republic's population is numbering 1.2 million," Alkhanov said. According to the Chechen president, 7,000 people quit bandit groups in previous years and at present all of them "are serving their people, some in police and some in other law enforcement agencies." Alkhanov said he would "exert every effort to help those who quit gangs and return to peaceful life to find jobs and provide guarantees of no criminal prosecution." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |