The Next Steps Toward A New Soviet Union?

FOXNews.com

GROZNY, Russia — Chechnya's parliament approved a widely feared former security chief as president of the war-battered Russian republic in a nearly unanimous vote Friday, a day after President Vladimir Putin nominated him.

The confirmation of Ramzan Kadyrov, which had been seen as a foregone conclusion, cements his rise to power. His nomination won 56 votes in the 58-member, two-chamber legislature, with two ballots ruled invalid.

Human rights groups allege that security forces under Kadyrov's control abduct and torture civilians suspected of ties to Chechnya's separatist rebels. Some observers suggest he was tied to last year's murder of Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist who had reported extensively on Chechnya's wars and sufferings. Kadyrov has denied any involvement.

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Kadyrov has been at the heart of a Kremlin strategy to crush continued rebel resistance and establish order in the mostly Muslim region. He turned 30 in October, the minimum age for president, and had been expected to seek the job.

He became acting president after last week's dismissal of Alu Alkhanov, who had increasingly criticized Kadyrov.

Kadyrov is the son of Chechnya's first pro-Moscow president, Akhmad Kadyrov, who was assassinated in 2004. The elder Kadyrov became president in 2003 in a Kremlin-conducted aimed at undermining rebels by creating the image of Chechens being allowed a high degree of self-determination.

So...do we call the "Chechen Revolutionaries" terrorists, or freedom fighters now.