GROZNY, January 2. /TASS/. Chechen Republic is embarking on a new tactics of search for and neutralization of paramilitary groupings, the press service of the regional government said.
“From now on, a new tactics of search for and neutralization of remaining militant groupings will be used,” it said. “Each commander will be entrusted personally with tracking down one or another militant who is on a wanted list.”
“The commanders will have the task to detect the militants regardless of where the latter may be,” the press said quoting the regional President, Ramzan Kadyrov.
The new system does not replace the commonly adopted operative search practice.
“This is an efficacious method,” Kadyrov said. “It’ll produce good results. We’ll fully clear Chechnya of militants.”
Also, he made a strong appeal to the militants’ relatives to convince them to lay down arms and report to the agencies of law and order.
“This will give them a chance to serve the terms of punishment envisioned by law and to return home alive,” Kadyrov said. “I know firmly the paramilitaries can’t subsist in hideouts without support from families and friends. We’ve seen many a time some type of linkage is present in each particular case.”
“The hopes that the paramilitary groupings can stay somewhere in the hiding and commit crimes endlessly are futile,” he said. “The militants are too few and the fact will help up concentrate more resources on tracking them down.”
Field commander Musa Zavgayev and his assistant Bashir Omarov were blocked in a private house in Mekenskaya township on Thursday. They responded with active resistance to the proposals to surrender.
Both militants were residents of the republic’s Naurskaya district. The Chechen Interior Ministry says they were actively involved in paramilitary groupings and had heinous crimes on their record, including murders of policemen and officials in the Naurskaya district.
Ramzan Kadyrov planned and commanded the operation personally.