Putin pays visit to Chechnya

Russian President Vladimir Putin made an unannounced visit to Chechnya today, laying flowers at the grave of the war-ravaged region’s assassinated president.

Putin arrived early this morning in Akhmad Kadyrov’s home village of Tsentoroi. He placed flowers at Kadyrov’s grave along with Kadyrov’s son and Alu Alkhanov, the Kremlin’s favoured candidate in August 29 elections.

"We lost a sincere, courageous, talented and decent person,” ITAR-Tass quoted Putin as saying. “He had no other aim but one – to serve his people.

“He moved toward this goal on a difficult path, but was always honest, and we must do everything we can to carry out all that Akhmad Kadyrov planned, all his good works and initiatives.”

Putin’s visit came after a night of heavy fighting in the Chechen capital Grozny, where authorities said rebels attacked a police station near a central square as well police patrols and a polling station for next week’s vote.

Accounts of casualties varied. The fighting at the police station left seven police and nine civilians dead, an official in Chechnya’s Moscow-backed government said. The official said more than 10 other bodies had been found but not yet identified.

Three police were killed and six wounded in attacks on patrols in Grozny, the official said, and one polling place in the capital came under fire from a grenade launcher.