Russia's Chechnya reopens civilian airport

GROZNY, Russia, Mar 8 (Reuters) Russia's troubled Chechnya reopened its civilian airport today in a move intended to show that the war-ravaged region is recovering under its pro-Moscow government.

The reopening of the airport restores regular passenger links with Moscow severed when the Kremlin sent in troops in 1994 to quell the region's independence drive.

''We have great construction workers and we will go on reconstructing the republic,'' regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov told participants at a ceremony marking the event at Severny airport outside the regional capital Grozny.

A Tu-134 from Aeroflot-Don company delivered the first passengers from Moscow's Vnukovo airport to Severny at around 1530 hrs and was expected to make a return flight later in the day. The company will now make three return flights weekly.

Popular singers and dancers entertained hundreds of people who gathered outside the airport building to greet the first 76 passengers from Moscow and see off those taking the maiden flight to the Russian capital.

The Chechen conflict has been a major challenge to President Vladimir Putin, who came to power in 2000 vowing to safeguard Russia's integrity. Putin is due to quit next year after serving two four-year terms allowed by the constitution.

Since the end of the second Chechen war in 2000, Russia has managed to subdue large-scale separatist resistance in the region and install a loyal local administration although sporadic clashes between troops and rebels are not unusual.

Chechen rebels have also deployed suicide bombers -- usually women nicknamed ''black widows'' in Russia -- in attacks in Moscow.

Two Chechen women also downed two Russian airliners in a simultaneous bombing attack in 2004.

REBUILDING CHECHNYA Regional leader Kadyrov, a 30-year-old former rebel nominated to the post by Putin last week, promised the Russian president he would focus on rebuilding Chechnya.

Severny, one of the oldest Russian airports which started operations in late 1930s, had been completely destroyed during the wars, which killed tens of thousands people and displaced hundreds of thousands.

''This day will become an important milestone in the history of Chechnya's reconstruction,'' Abdulkakhir Israilov, the Chechen government's chief of staff, told reporters.

Since 1994, people travelling to and from Chechnya have had to use trains of fly through airports in neighbouring regions.

There are currently no formal limitations on private travel to and from Chechnya, which still suffers from the devastation caused by the war. But it is still considered an unsafe place because of the high crime rate.

REUTERS AKJ RAI1900