Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov was inaugurated as Chechen president amid tight security measures in the town of Gudermes on 19 October. Kadyrov announced before the ceremony that he would not swear the inaugural oath on the Koran as “I am not the leader of an Islamic state.” Kadyrov swore in Russian to implement the Chechen Constitution and uphold human rights and freedoms. Representatives from Moscow, St. Petersburg, and neighboring North Caucasus republics, including Kabardino-Balkaria\'s President Valerii Kokov, attended the ceremony, as did Russian presidential administration head Aleksandr Voloshin and Russian Minister for Chechen Affairs Stanislav Ilyasov. (ITAR-TASS)