Participants in the meeting included Akhmat Kadyrov, Head of the Administration of the Chechen Republic, Stanislav Ilyasov, Minister of the Russian Federation, Anatoly Popov, Prime Minister of Chechnya, and Sergei Bogdanchikov, President of Rosneft.
President Putin asked whether the refugees who had fled during the counter-terrorist operation were returning to the republic. Mr Kadyrov reported that in the past ten days alone about 2,000 people were transported from Ingushetia. There were several hundred outstanding applications from those wishing to return home. The Government of the republic, Mr Kadyrov stressed, saw its prime duty in creating the necessary conditions for temporary accommodation of the resettlers and full closure of all tented camps. President Putin, in turn, noted that the refugees should return to their permanent places of residence on a strictly voluntary basis.
The meeting participants also discussed the development prospects for Chechnya’s fuel and energy sector. Mr Bogdanchikov said the republic’s oil and gas industry was faring well, and that oil output in the first half of 2003 increased by 27%, reaching 1,750,000 metric tons.