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Chechens vote to remain with Russia
March 24, 2003 22:28 IST
In what is being seen as a major political and moral victory for President Vladimir Putin, the people of Chechnya have overwhelmingly voted to remain with the Russian Federation in a constitutional referendum.
After the counting of two-thirds vote on Tuesday, 95 per cent of the people said 'yes' to a new constitution giving widest autonomy within the Federation to Chechnya.
According to the Chief Election Commissioner of Chechnya, Abdul Kerim Arsakhanov, 80 per cent of the 540,000 registered voters, who cast their ballots on Sunday, also supported the new laws on the elections of the president and local legislature.
"We have resolved the last serious problem related to Russia's territorial integrity," Putin said in his televised statement at a meeting with his key cabinet members.
"The people of Chechnya did this directly and in a most democratic way," he said.
Putin said the referendum's outcome was expected, but the figures exceeded even the most optimistic expectations.
"Anyone who has not surrendered their arms by this time will now be fighting not only for their false ideals, but against their own people. Their struggle contradicts the interests of the Chechen people and its determination to live in peace," he said.
The Russian media noted that the night after the referendum was the 'quietest' in many years in Chechnya, without gunshots and landmine blasts.