Russia should allow young people in its troubled North Caucasus region to move freely across the country, releasing their potential to help the national economy, the president's representative in the region said on Friday.
"In the coming years Russia will face a shortage of manpower, we have a 'demographic hole.' With that in mind, we in fact have a classy resource in the North Caucasus, where young guys cannot apply themselves," Alexander Khloponin said on Rossiya 24 television news channel.
"We shut the people in this territory," the head of the North Caucasus Federal District said. "Today's young guys should be able to travel throughout Russia, not be locked in the North Caucasus."
Khloponin was appointed in January 2010 as part of Kremlin efforts to improve the economic situation in the North Caucasus, but so far efforts to boost the local economies have had little effect while militant violence has continued across the region.
MOSCOW, February 18 (RIA Novosti)
