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Putin visits Grozny, addresses Chechen parliament

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MOSCOW, December 12 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Grozny Monday and addressed the first session of the newly elected Chechen parliament, presidential press secretary Alexei Gromov said Monday.

"This is an important and remarkable day in the life of the Chechen Republic," Putin said. He added that the republic had traveled a hard path on the way to legislature.

In an address that touched up on the tragedy of Stalin's deportation of Chechens to Central Asia and the heroism that Chechen people had displayed in World War II, the president also recalled the early 1990s, when most Russians had hoped for a better life and were fighting for freedom and democracy.

"The country was facing the most complicated problems in the economic sphere and with collapse of the country," he said. "This could not strengthen but, on the contrary, was destroying the state and caused problems of separatism not only in the North Caucasus, but also in many other regions of the country."

He said the people who had come to power in Chechnya in the mid-1990s, when the republic had been racked by conflict, had put their ambitions above people's interests, which ultimately led to the invasion of neighboring Daghestan in 1999. Federal troops were returned to Chechnya after that aggression.

"The most terrible thing is that those people who came here brought a distorted interpretation of the Koran that is not typical of the North Caucasus nations," Putin said. He said they had not only tried to distort the Koran, but also Islam.

According to the president, others understood these problems and negative trends and made the decision that Chechnya could only be free, independent and prosperous as a part of Russia.

One of those people was the late President of Chechnya Akhmad Kadyrov, who was killed in a terrorist attack in May 2004. Putin said Kadyrov had sacrificed his life for the Chechen people and had not been afraid to tackle security, economic and environmental problems.

Putin said deputies of the new parliament also needed courage to resolve these problems.

Putin said Russia had always been a loyal and reliable defender of Islam. "In trying to destroy Russia, these people [separatist leaders] are trying to destroy one of the strongholds of the Islamic world."

Speaking on what is also Russian Constitution Day, the president said Muslim leaders understood Russia's role in the Islamic world and had unanimously accepted it as observer to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, an association of 56 Islamic states that seeks to promote solidarity throughout the Muslim world.

"We should persuade those who have not laid down their arms that they are following false ideas," Putin said. "One of the key tasks is to strengthen the law enforcement agencies, courts and the legal profession."

"The most difficult issue is solving socio-economic problems," Putin said, adding that the Chechen economy had suffered catastrophic losses in the past ten years. He said it was necessary to rebuild the Chechen capital, Grozny, and the republic's agricultural and the oil sectors by using high technologies.

Putin also discussed Chechnya's socio-economic development with Chechen President Alu Alkhanov and acting Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, who is fulfilling the role while premier Sergei Abramov recovers after a car accident.

Parliamentary elections in Chechnya were held on November 27, with the pro-Kremlin United Russia party winning the majority of the vote and taking 33 places in the 58-seat legislature.

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