(Itar-Tass) - A total 439 militants have voluntarily laid down their arms and stopped resistance in Chechnya. Numbers of surrendering members of armed groups have been increasing as the deadline of the amnesty, January 15, is nearing, Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov told Itar-Tass on Friday. That'd be since the amnesty was declared, last... ummm... July.
“January 15 ends effect of the State Duma’s resolution on the amnesty to members of illegal armed units. It has been a deeply thought-out action intended primarily for a part of the youth who found themselves under the influence of a hostile ideology and do not know anything but arms. Militants initially took a waiting stance. However, a number of those who voluntarily lay down arms have begun increasing with time. The largest group, about 50 militants, has given up arms in Gudermes in August, then 35 former militants came with surrender in November. Representatives of (Aslan) Maskhadov among them,” Kadyrov said.
“Our main purpose is the return to the peaceful life of even one more man. If 400 well-armed militants having an experience of guerrillas action have preserved as many lives and remained alive themselves, then the amnesty has the right to be called effective,” he stressed. Most of surrenders were registered in the Grozny, Gudermes and Vedeno districts, Kadyrov said.