Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his tacit endorsement to Chechnya\'s interior minister to succeed the war-torn republic\'s slain leader as he received the career policeman at the Kremlin. His meeting with Putin took up nearly three quarters of the 5:00 pm (1300 GMT) news on the state-controlled Rossia channel, which showed it for seven minutes during a 10-minute broadcast. Alkhanov, a tall soft-spoken man with a neatly-trimmed moustache, has spent his adult life working in the interior ministry, which in Russia includes both combat soldiers and police. In the Caucasus republic, he is best known for leading a Chechen interior ministry unit which defended Grozny\'s rail station from rebels advancing on the capital in August 1996. His unit withdrew when it became clear that the separatists were going to take the capital, at the end of the first Russo-Chechen war. Observers in Chechnya say that the man often described as decent but lacklustre was chosen to head the ruined republic because of his unwavering loyalty to Kadyrov. The strongest hints that Alkhanov would be advanced for Chechnya\'s top post came last week when Kadyrov\'s powerful son Ramzan, who at 27 is too young to run for president, backed him. Many in Chechnya, including those in Kadyrov\'s entourage, say that Ramzan -- who heads a thousands-strong presidential security force -- would likely wield the real power in Chechnya under an Alkhanov presidency. On Tuesday news reports said that five people from Ramzan Kadyrov\'s presidential service were killed in a clash with rebels near the southern village of Avtury. Eight people have announced their intention of standing in the August 29 presidential elections and Chechnya\'s election commission is expected to announce the official list of candidates by the end of July. (AFP)