Kremlin-appointed leader declared election winner

GROZNY, Russia -- The Kremlin's hand-picked man to lead Chechnya was declared the winner Monday in the region's presidential vote, a widely expected outcome praised by President Vladimir Putin as a sign of hope to end the bloody insurgency here borne of nearly a decade of war.

Akhmad Kadyrov, acting president of Chechnya and previously the leading Muslim cleric in this Caucasus province, received 81.1 percent of the vote with more than 77 percent of votes counted, said regional election commission chairman Abdul-Kerim Arsakhanov. Turnout was 85 percent, he said.

Putin, not surprisingly, applauded Sunday's election, which came after a March referendum on a new constitution for Chechnya that reaffirmed its status as part of Russia.

"The very fact of such a high turnout shows that people have hope -- hope for a better life, for positive changes in the life of the republic," Putin said at a Cabinet meeting.

Stanislav Ilyasov, Russia's minister for Chechen affairs, said Russian and Chechen officials would sign a treaty outlining the local authorities' sphere of control by the end of the year.

Chechnya "will engage in the rehabilitation of its facilities on its own and manage its own resources," Ilyasov said Monday, according to ITAR-Tass news agency. There must also be elections for a parliament.

The results were seen as a foregone conclusion after two candidates rating higher than Kadyrov in early opinion polls didn't appear on the ballot -- one withdrawing to become an adviser to Putin and the other barred from running by the Chechen Supreme Court. Six virtually unknown candidates ran against Kadyrov, who was once allied with the rebels.

Speaking to Rossiya state television outside his home in the Chechen village of Tsentoroi on Monday, Kadyrov said he felt "an enormous burden of responsibility for the republic and for the people who trusted me."

Security was tightened out of fear rebels would disrupt the vote, which they labeled a farce.

A pro-rebel Web site, kavkazcenter.com, quoted Aslan Maskhadov, the separatist leader elected president of Chechnya in 1997 who is now denounced by Russian authorities as a terrorist, as calling the election "a criminal action by the occupation forces" that was "doomed to failure."

Fighting between rebels and federal forces was lighter during the vote, with Russian warplanes and artillery taking the last 24 hours off, a pro-Moscow official in the Chechen administration said Monday. One soldier was killed and eight wounded in 14 attacks on army positions, and an armored personnel carrier hit a mine near the town of Bamut, killing one soldier and wounding four.

In a clash on the outskirts of Vedeno, four policemen were wounded and they detained two wounded rebels, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Human rights advocates questioned the fairness of a vote held during a war and said the election was heavily tilted in favor of Kadyrov, whose personal security service is widely feared and accused of kidnappings and killings. Major Western governments including the United States have been cautious about criticism, expressing hope that the vote will lead to a political solution of the conflict.

The current war began in September 1999 with a massive air and ground assault but has devolved into a bloody stalemate. It followed a 1994-96 war that ended with Russian forces withdrawing.