CECHNYA: The leader of a pro-Kremlin militia accused of major human rights violations was confirmed on Saturday as the new prime minister of Chechnya, the strife-torn southern Russian republic that has been the scene of two brutal wars in the past 11 years.
Ramzan Kadyrov (29), the son of an assassinated Chechen president, was unanimously approved by the republic's People's Assembly to replace Sergei Abramov, who was injured in a car accident in Moscow in November and resigned this week. Chechen president Alu Alkhanov immediately signed a decree ratifying the appointment.
As first deputy prime minister, Mr Kadyrov was regarded as the real power in Chechnya. He controlled local security services, disbursement of federal funds that support the republic and its political institutions, including the newly elected parliament. He is expected to become prime minister in October, when he turns 30.
"I am officially warning you that my requirements will be tough," he said, speaking to legislators after his appointment. "We fought together against illegal armed groups. Most of you took part in this fight. You have proven that you are courageous men. You need to be as courageous and self-sacrificing when working in high positions in the government."
Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, who awarded Mr Kadyrov the Hero of Russia medal in 2004, has been pursuing a policy of Chechenisation in the republic, turning over political power and responsibility for security to loyal Chechens willing to fight separatists.
Others view the Kremlin's strategy more coldly. "The whole point of it came down to one idea: Let 'them' fight each other so that fewer of 'our' soldiers will die," Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya wrote last year.
Mr Kadyrov emerged as the power in Chechnya after his father was assassinated in 2004. Both were rebels who switched their loyalties to Moscow.
Mr Kadyrov now commands an 8,000-member paramilitary force that has "gradually replaced federal troops as the main perpetrators of disappearances" in the republic, according to Human Rights Watch. - (LA Times-Washington Post service)