GROZNY, April 11, /ITAR-TASS/. The head of the Chechen republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, believes that the Chechen cities and villages are safe enough for police to go around unarmed while off duty.
According to Kadyrov’s message posted on one of his official pages in the social networks he invited Chechnya’s senior Interior Ministry officials in charge of patrol units to a meeting on Thursday to tell them that Chechnya had restored a lasting peace, order and stability.
“The warlords have been eliminated and armed gangs wiped out. The militants have no social base inside Chechnya they might rely on. In a situation like this the police should be aware that the nature of their work and of their tasks is changing. It’s time to get used to a peaceful life, to pay more attention to theory. As for practice, they have had enough of it,” Kadyrov said.
“I also said there should be no more police carrying weapons and wearing combat fatigues on the streets of cities and villages while off duty. Possibly, five or six ‘shaitans’ are still hanging around somewhere in the mountains, but they care more about their own lives. They are unable to influence the situation,” Kadyrov said.
The chief of Russia’s federal security service FSB Aleksandr Bortnikov said at a meeting of the anti-terrorist committee on April 8 that the chief of the terrorist group Imarat Kavkaz, Doku Umarov, had been “neutralized.”
In the first quarter of this year 36 counter-terrorist operations were held, 13 ringleaders and 65 militants killed and 240 other militants and their backers detained.