Ramzan Kadyrov, elected Chechen president earlier this year, said "the counterterrorism operation in the region has been completed and today we are fighting criminal [not terrorist] elements in the Republic of Chechnya."
Earlier Monday Colonel General Arkady Yedelev, a Russian deputy interior minister, said that currently 37 illegal armed groups, consisting of about 450 militants, were still active in Chechnya.
Although the active phase of the North Caucasus antiterrorist campaign officially ended in 2001, periodic bombings and clashes between gunmen and federal troops still disrupt Chechnya and nearby regions, including Daghestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Karachayevo-Circassia.
Yedelev also said Monday that foreign mercenaries, trained in Bosnia, infiltrate the North Caucasus republics via Ukraine.
"We have concrete facts of [North Caucasus] penetration by mercenaries from Bosnia, which have been trained there," he said.
Following the killing of Chechnya's warlord and number one terrorist, Shamil Basayev, Russian authorities announced a partial amnesty July 15 for militants who had not been involved in major atrocities. Officials say more than 600 militants have surrendered since then, mainly in Chechnya.
