14:57, 2 September 2003

New Commander of Northern Caucasian United Forces has been appointed

Colonel-General Valery Baranov is appointed new Commander of the Northern Caucasian United Forces. At this post he will replace Lieutenant-General Sergey Makarov and start to act as a Commander. This was reported in Grozny by Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Interior Troops General Vyacheslav Tikhomirov.

He said that Baranov's appointment was a "constructive element of a new management vertical for structures that take part in the anti-terrorist operation in Chechnya". Now it will look like this: the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs - the Regional Operations Headquarters - the United Forces - the united interior forces. Its formation will be finished on September 1 in accordance with the Russian President's decision that the Federal Security Service should pass its functions of the operation control to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

General Baranov had already acted as the Commander of the United Forces in 2001.

Source: ITAR-TASS News Agency