Russia to end its Terror against Chechnya?

President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday ordered the Russian authorities to move towards ending the 'anti-terror' operation in Chechnya that has been in place for the last decade.

He ordered the national anti-terror committee to consider the future of the regime, which was put in place as Moscow was starting its second war against separatists in the Muslim Caucasus region in 1990.

"I propose that the national anti-terror committee considers the question about the anti-terror operation and takes the necessary decisions," Medvedev said in comments broadcast on state television.

He said "the situation in Chechnya has normalised to a large degree and life is getting back to normal, modern buildings are being constructed."

The decree on the start of a "counter-terrorist operation" was passed in Chechnya under late president Boris Yeltsin in 1999, just months before he resigned and installed Vladimir Putin at the helm.

Russia fought two full-scale wars with separatist forces after the collapse of the Soviet Union in Chechnya but the situation has stabilised in the last years under the strongman pro-Moscow local leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

Kadyrov, who has been accused by rights groups of using heavy-handed tactics against his enemies, said earlier this week "we have completely rooted out terrorism." More