MOSCOW, February 28 (RIA Novosti) - Prime Minister of Chechnya Sergei Abramov has filed his resignation, the president of the North Caucasus republic said Tuesday.
"Sergei Abramov's health means he cannot resume office," Alu Alkhanov said.
Abramov suffered severe injuries in a car crash near Moscow in mid-November 2005.
"I received his resignation in the morning, and we will discuss it," Alkhanov said.
The president did not say who could replace Abramov, although he added that he or she must be able to be in control of the complex economic arrangements in effect in the war-torn republic.
"Ethnic origin and religious beliefs are not so important criteria for the future premier," said Alkhanov, who has been the president of the largely Muslim republic since August 2004.
Abramov, 33, was hospitalized after his car collided with a truck as he was heading for an airport to fly to Chechnya. He suffered a ruptured kidney, and broken ribs, among other injuries, underwent long treatment and recuperated in a Kremlin medical center near Moscow and in Germany.
Abramov's chauffer was blamed for the crash, as he had violated traffic rules by refusing to give way to the truck moving on the main road.
Abramov, who started his career in banking, became Chechnya's finance minister in 2001 and later oversaw spending in the republic, including compensation payments for damaged or ruined housing, as a member of the Audit Chamber, Russia's financial watchdog.
He became prime minister in March 2004 and was acting president in May 2004 when President Akhmad Kadyrov, who fought against federal forces in the first Chechen campaign but later condemned radicalism and sided with the Kremlin, was assassinated during VE-Day celebrations in Grozny.
Abramov himself survived an attempt on his life in the Chechen capital in July 2004. One security guard was killed and two others injured in an explosion allegedly perpetrated by separatists.
In Abramov's absence, Ramzan Kadyrov, a powerful figure in the republic as a deputy prime minister and the late President Kadyrov's son, became acting premier.
