ST. PETERSBURG, June 14 (RIA Novosti) - Several thousand former Chechen gunmen have joined federal forces operating in the troubled North Caucasus republic, the region's president said Wednesday.
Former Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov declared an amnesty in late 2004 under his personal guarantee for Chechen militants who laid down their arms and withdrew from militant gangs. Local residents could also turn in their arms to police in exchange for financial compensation.
"About 6,000-7,000 former militants are serving in the Defense Ministry, the Chechen Interior Ministry troops, working in the Chechen government and state agencies in the republic," said President Alu Alkhanov. "It is all thanks to the negotiating skills of the first Chechen president [Kadyrov]."
Kadyrov's son, Ramzan, who is now Chechen prime minister, had also been involved in the disarmament effort.
Alkhanov said the government was continuing to search for Shamil Basayev, Russia's most wanted gunman, who had claimed responsibility for a series of bloody attacks including the 1995 Budyonnovsk hospital siege.
"We receive information about his changing whereabouts from special services and law-enforcement officers," Alkhanov said, without elaborating on when Basayev could be arrested.
He said the number of wanted warlords had shrunk dramatically in the past few years.
"Today we have only Umarov left," Alkhanov said.
Doku Umarov, a successor to slain separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, has claimed responsibility for a string of bloody attacks in Russia, including the Beslan school siege in September 2004 that left 331 people dead, and led an armed raid on Ingushetia in June 2004 in which police said militants attacked 19 police precincts and prisons in the North Caucasus republic.
