Russia's Chechnya to hold presidential elections in September

Presidential elections in Chechnya will be held in early September, Russian president's envoy in southern Russia Vladimir Yakovlev said on Wednesday.

Russian news agencies quoted Yakovlev as saying the date had been fixed for the first Sunday in September.

Former Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov, who was elected last October, was killed in a bomb explosion during celebrations marking Russia's Victory Day in a stadium in Chechen capital of Grozny on May 9.

Aslanbek Aslakhanov, Russian president's adviser on Chechnya, did not rule out the possibility that he would run for the region's top leader, according to Itar-Tass news agency.

"The idea of participating in the election hasn't even entered my mind but I'll think about taking part in electing the Chechen president if the republic insists on it," Aslakhanov told a news conference in Moscow on Wednesday.

He said that Ramzan Kadyrov, the son of the assassinated Chechen president, would not be able to run for president himself because he is three years under the legal minimum age of 30.

Chechnya, a war-torn republic in Russia's Northern Caucasus, won a status of de-facto independence in 1996 after the pullout ofRussian troops.

Russian troops re-entered the lawless region in September 1999 following attacks by Chechnya-based fighters in a neighboring region and a series of deadly bombings blamed on the rebels.

Chechens approved in a referendum in March a Kremlin-backed constitution that cemented the region's status as part of Russia.

Source: Xinhua