MOSCOW, May 6 (RIA Novosti) - Europeans are still welcome to visit Russia's troubled Chechnya region, the Chechen president said Saturday.
"As far as European commissions are concerned, the republic is not closed to anyone," Alu Alkhanov told a news conference in Moscow.
In February, acting Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov ordered the expulsion of a Danish humanitarian group, the Danish Refugee Council, over the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.
The move outraged the Kremlin, and the presidential envoy to the southern federal district requested that prosecutors look into its legitimacy, arguing that decisions regarding foreign organizations had to be coordinated with federal authorities.
The Chechen president said that life in the region was getting back to normal and human rights issues were being dealt with, adding that the number of kidnappings in the region had declined substantially.
He said 15 criminal cases on abduction charges had been launched so far this year, compared with 68 last year.
Alkhanov also said he was not going to step down as the republic's president.
"I was elected by the people, and I am performing my duties. This is the only answer I can give," he said in reply to a reporter's question as to whether Ramzan Kadyrov could become Chechnya's new president this coming fall.
