NEW CONSTITUTION DRAFTED.

On February 13, the Consultative Council for the pro-Moscow Chechen administration presented the draft of a new constitution for the republic which had been prepared by the entourage of Akhmad Kadyrov. “According to the Kadyrov draft,” Kommersant reported, “the highest organ of power in Chechnya is declared to be a popular assembly in which members of the parliament, the government, the president and 120 people’s representatives will enter as members. All citizens of Chechnya will also be citizens of Russia, and the state languages will be Russian and Chechen.” In the proposed text, Kommersant noted, “Chechnya is termed a democratic state, but the word ‘sovereignty’ is absent, and nothing is said about any special status for the republic” (Kommersant, February 14).