"We have something to say, and we have statements to make. We shall not shrug off healthy opinions and good offers if any come up," he remarked to a news conference in Moscow.
The President thinks the Chechen-based contingent ought to pass into the jurisdiction of the republican Interior Ministry, commandant's office and board of the Federal Security Service, or FSB. "It is the Chechen Interior Minister, the FSB board chief and the commandant to bear entire responsibility. Forces stationed in Chechnya are to get into their operational control. That will enhance their responsibility, improve developments in the republic, and make those forces more controllable," he emphasized.
Military commandants' offices will be disbanded in Chechnya by the year's end, as far as Mr. Alkhanov knows.
