Chechnya has been largely ruined by years of fighting dating back to the start of the first military campaign launched in 1994 to "restore constitutional order" and trouble has spilled over into neighboring republics such as Ingushetia and Daghestan.
But Ramzan Kadyrov was upbeat about the region's future, "The republic's authorities are trying to bring life back to normal," he said at a meeting with the ambassadors to Russia of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg.
The son of the late president of Chechnya Akhmad Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader credited with starting the normalization process in the troubled republic before his 2004 assassination, Ramzan Kadyrov even suggested that the area could become a tourist destination in the future.
"At a meeting with schoolchildren, I promised them that the Chechen Republic would become one of the wealthiest and most prosperous regions in three years," he said.
Dutch Ambassador Jan-Paul Dirkse said he was sure to see more positive changes during his next visit. He said he was happy that education and health-care issues were given priority and promised support.
When European delegates asked Kadyrov whether the people of Chechnya would be able to recover from and forget the horrors of the war, the prime minister said it was impossible to forget everything.
"I lost 420 close companions, relatives, schoolmates and friends. Do you think I will be able to forget them?" he asked.
