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Chechnya’s President Alu Alkhanov resigns, Premier Ramzan Kadyrov takes over his duties

PRAGUE, Czech Republic - On February 15 the Moscow-backed Chechen President Alu Alkhanov officially tendered his resignation and Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov took over his duties. The appropriate decrees were signed by President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin’s press service reported yesterday evening.

Alkhanov has lost the struggle for power which has culminated during recent days to the ambitious Kadyrov, who in spite of frequently being accused of gross human rights violations is now well on the way to becoming the new Chechen President. The presidential nominee will be proposed to the Chechen parliament by the President of the Russian Federation.

The text of Putin’s decree states that Alkhanov resigned voluntarily and that, in accordance with federal law, the Premier was appointed to be the acting president of the Chechen Republic.

Alkhanov took up his post on October 5, 2004 after being declared winner of the presidential elections which took place on August 29, 2004. The elections had to be held because of the violent death of President Akhmat Kadyrov in an explosion at the Grozny stadium on May 9, 2004.

The constitution of the Chechen Republic, adopted in a doubtful referendum on March 23, 2003, states that the President shall be elected for four years by the citizens of the republic. However, on August 3, 2006 the Chechen Parliament proposed several changes to the constitution, including the direct nomination of the republic’s President by the federal President and his subsequent approval by local Parliament, bringing Chechnya into line with all the other territories of the Russian Federation. It is not clear, however, whether the changes have been approved by Chechnya's Constitutional Assembly, which is the only state body that may change the Constitution.

According to Russian media reports, President Putin has to propose his candidate by March 1.

Translated by David McDuff.

(MD,T)