Caharkala/Agency Caucasus – The Chechen parliamentarians requested that Ramzan Kadyrov, pro-Russian President of Chechnya, should be awarded a token for his service to the nation after the possibility has arisen that as Dmitri Medvedev takes the presidential office of Russia on May 7, he may decide to replace the current president of Chechnya.
The Chechen parliamentarians came up with a request to President Vladimir Putin of Russia to award Kadyrov a first-grade token for his service to the nation, according to a statement issued on April 25 from the secretary of press of the Chechen Parliament. Dukvakh Abdurrahmanov, Speaker of the Russian-guided Chechen Parliament, reiterated the point that the Chechen president should receive this award for his national service. Aside from Putin, his special envoy in North Caucasus Grigori Rapota heard the same request from the Chechen parliamentarians to award Kadyrov the token.
The presidential image of Kadyrov was damaged when he faced a challenge in Gudermes by the Vostok troops. Sulim Yamadayev, commander of the Vostok troops, has appeared to be in approval of Kadyrov’s political authority until recently. However, he made some statements after his troops fought in Gudermes with a group of supporters of the president that made him look in pursuit of a secure position when Medvedev takes office.
With Yamadayev, the powers of Kadyrov became disputable. Yamadayev signaled a warning to the Kremlin by pointing out that his supporters were former resisters and they could join the lines of Resistance at any time if the situation required it. In the wake of the Gudermes incident, the supporters of Kadyrov increased the political pressure to get the Vostok troops dissolved. Although the senior Russian military officials met to make an evaluation of the situation with the Vostok troops, the reaching of a definite decision was delayed in a signal of favor for Yamadayev. The Vostok troops came into being in 2002 within a framework adopted by the Russian Defense Ministry with a view to benefiting from the Chechens in crushing the Chechen Resistance. ÖZ/FT
