RUSSIA: Russian President Vladimir Putin made a lightning dash to Chechnya yesterday, to try and reassert control over a region badly rattled by the assassination of its Kremlin-backed leader.
He arrived by helicopter in Grozny, the Chechen capital, to present medals to relatives of Akhmad Kadyrov (52), who was blown up with six other people at the city's main stadium on Sunday morning.
"The May 9th tragedy is another lesson for us," Mr Putin told a government meeting back in Moscow after his covert trip. "This is a great tragedy for us, a great loss."
Mr Putin, who last visited Chechnya in April 2001, complained that Grozny - a city shattered by indiscriminate Russian shelling and fierce street fighting in the first of two wars there since 1994 - still looked "horrible".
He said he would send an economic team to Chechnya to study how to accelerate the rebuilding process, and ordered another 1,125 police to be deployed to the region, where Moscow says it has about 70,000 men under arms.
The death of Mr Kadyrov wrecked Mr Putin's plans for Chechnya, just two days after the Russian leader was inaugurated for a second term in the Kremlin. But he insisted that nothing would shake what he calls "progress" in the region, where separatist rebels still kill Russian troops every day.
"No one should have any doubt that the basic conditions for restoring Chechnya - the military aspect, the judicial, the organisational - are so deeply rooted that no one will be able to reverse them," he said.
Elections to find Mr Kadyrov's successor must be held before September 9th, but Moscow is struggling to find a candidate capable of subduing mutually hostile local clans and convincing Chechens that he is not simply a puppet of the widely hated Russians.
Mr Ramzan Kadyrov (28), son of the slain leader, is a favourite to take over, despite his youth, lack of political savvy and reputation for violence.
He leads a private army that is accused of kidnapping, torturing and killing enemies with impunity.
He was named deputy prime minister this week, and made what sounded like a campaign speech yesterday.