Chechnya's First Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov said Friday that Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov plans to surrender, the Interfax news agency reported.

"Maskhadov is searching for ways to reach the federal center to hold talks on laying down arms and surrendering to the authorities," Kadyrov said.

Maskhadov wants the heads of North Caucasus regions to communicate his surrender terms to the Chechen government, Kadyrov said.

Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies will step up their operation to search for Maskhadov.

"He will surrender to the authorities in the near future, or we will eliminate him," Kadyrov said.

Kadyrov said "weakness and poor coordination" have hampered his detention to date. "The population does not believe the reward that was announced for information on Maskhadov's whereabouts will be paid."

After the hostage-taking tragedy in Beslan, North Ossetia, in September, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) announced are ward of up to 300 million rubles (over 10 million US dollars)for information leading to the capture of Maskhadov and fellow Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev.

Source: Xinhua