Wartime vote for president called move toward peace

MAKHACHKALA, Russia -- Battered by a decade of war and chaos, residents of Chechnya vote for a president today in an election that the Kremlin bills as a significant step toward stability but that even the likely winner says won't bring peace for years.

The voting comes four years after Russian forces returned to Chechnya in a massive air and ground assault that brought the northern flatlands under control quickly, but then stalled in the southern mountains. For most of the last four years, the conflict has been a bloody stalemate in which the Russians pound Chechen rebels with heavy weaponry and the insurgents draw blood daily with bombs, ambushes and hit-and-run attacks.

Faced with widespread criticism for holding a vote during wartime, Russia on Saturday defended the election's transparency, saying officials had invited a range of international organizations but many had refused to send observers. The Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation Europe declined to send observers because of security concerns.

"Regardless of their decision, the Chechen elections will proceed in a free, democratic atmosphere," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said in a statement. "Those who disregarded the Chechen authorities' hospitality will not be qualified to objectively judge this key event in the life of the Chechen people."

Thousands of Russian soldiers have died since the war began, and fighting persisted on the eve of the vote. Six Russian troops and police in Chechnya were killed and 10 others wounded in rebel attacks, firefights and a mine explosion in the previous 24 hours, a Moscow-backed official said Saturday.

The years of fighting have left much of the republic in ruins and sent tens of thousands of civilians fleeing to neighboring Ingushetia.

Faced with a seemingly unwinnable war and unwilling to back down from its vow not to negotiate with the rebels, the Kremlin this year turned to the strategy of restoring the outlines of civil society in Chechnya, which before the return of Russian troops in 1999 had been de facto independent.

The presidential balloting follows a March referendum in which Chechens approved a constitution that confirms the republic's status as a part of Russia. The Russian parliament has discussed offering Chechnya substantial autonomy, but no clear terms have been stated.

The election was aimed at persuading Chechens that they could have a degree of independence while remaining part of Russia. But that sense likely was severely undermined by the departure of the two candidates that polls showed were the top contenders. Aslambek Aslakhanov, who represents Chechnya in the national parliament, dropped out to become an adviser to President Vladimir Putin, and Malik Saidullayev's candidacy was invalidated the same day by the Chechen Supreme Court.

Those moves raised wide speculation that the Kremlin was determined to ensure the victory of Akhmad Kadyrov, appointed in 2000 as the Kremlin's top civilian in Chechnya. He faces six other little-known candidates and is widely expected to win.

But a Kadyrov victory could provoke further resentment in Chechnya. Once allied with the rebels, Kadyrov is regarded by many as a turncoat, and his personal security force, run by his son Ramzan, is widely feared. The force, reportedly numbering in the thousands, allegedly kills, tortures and kidnaps with impunity.

Kadyrov last week said that even his election would not prefigure a quick end to the war.

"We have a long time still to fight with the bandits. In five years, I don't think we'll be going out for walks at night," he told The Associated Press in New York.

Russia has enacted a tight security regime to make sure the voting takes place without violence.

A grenade launcher was fired at a school housing a polling station on the outskirts of the capital Grozny, Buvai-Sari Arsakhanov, deputy chief of the Chechen election commission, said Saturday. No one was hurt, but windows were shattered and door frames were damaged, Arsakhanov said, according to Interfax.