GROZNY, June 1 (RIA Novosti) - Chechnya's prime minister said Thursday he was ready to adopt an orphan and provide better living conditions for thousands of children in the troubled republic who had lost their families.
"I will adopt a child, give him or her my surname and bring them up, if they so wish," Ramzan Kadyrov said during a visit to an orphanage in the regional capital, Grozny.
There are officially 19,000 orphans and 24,000 children who have lost one parent in the North Caucasus republic. About 20,000 children are disabled.
Kadyrov, whose father Akhmad was president of Chechnya before his assassination in 2004, pledged to provide proper education, jobs and housing for such children.
"The Chechen government will take care of all Chechnya's children, who deserve a better life," he said.
According to the international Red Cross committee, 616 children have been injured and 130 killed by landmine explosions since 2000.
