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Putin: Amnesty for Chechen rebels
MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered an amnesty to rebels in the rebellious southern republic of Chechnya after two deadly bombings this week blamed on separatists. Putin on Thursday sent the Duma, the lower house of parliament, a bill offering the amnesty, which applies to those rebels who lay down their arms voluntarily, stop terrorist activity and halt membership in terrorist organizations by August 1. The proposal applies to acts committed in the last 10 years but does not cover people who have committed grave crimes -- such as murder, kidnapping, and robbery. The amnesty would not cover foreign nationals involved in the Chechen rebel separatist activities. The move comes a day before Putin makes his annual state of the nation address. Meanwhile, the death toll from Wednesday's suicide attack during a religious festival in the Chechen village of Iliskhan-Yurt rose to 15, plus the female bomber, Russian officials said. It was the second suicide bombing in the breakaway republic this week. Fifty-two people died in an attack on government buildings in the north of the country Monday. (Full Story) Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Monday's attack on Chechen rebels seeking to disrupt the establishment of a new government after more than three years of war. "It is evident that terrorist acts like the one this morning have one principal goal, and that is to stop the process of normalization in Chechnya," Putin said. A March constitutional referendum was meant to cement the breakaway Muslim republic into Russia. The Kremlin and Chechnya's Moscow-appointed administration portrayed the referendum as a key step toward peace and a return to normal life in the region. During talks on Wednesday with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Putin compared the al Qaeda-blamed attack in Riyadh Tuesday, in which more than 30 Westerners died, with Monday's Chechnya blast. (Moscow talks) (Riyadh blast) Russian troops invaded Chechnya in 1999 after a string of attacks blamed on Chechen separatists who had fought Moscow to a standstill three years earlier. Guerrilla attacks on Russian forces have persisted since then. Chechnya's leaders have vowed to crack down on extremists' attacks and bring more security to the region. But Monday's attacks have been seen as a sign that Muslim rebel groups continue to have a presence in northern Chechnya, which is largely more pro-Russian than southern areas of the territory. The bombings comes five months after a truck-bomb attack on the headquarters of the Moscow-backed Chechen administration in Grozny killed at least 50 people. (Full Story) -- CNN Correspondent Ralitsa Vassileva contributed to this report.
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