Khambiyev arrived in Italy Tuesday and asked Prime Minister Romano Prodi for political asylum.
"There will be a place for the former Chechen health minister if he chooses to return to a peaceful life," Vladimir Putin told a news conference in Bari, southern Italy, on the last day of his two-day visit.
Khambiyev was health minister in the government of "independent Ichkeria", the name Chechen separatists gave to the republic. He was later appointed a foreign envoy for Aslan Maskhadov, the former president of Ichkeria, and arrived in Italy Tuesday.
Khambiyev's brother, Magomed, was defense minister in Maskhadov's government and is a Chechen parliamentarian now.
Aslan Maskhadov, involved in a Moscow theater hostage taking in 2002, was killed in Chechnya by Russian forces two years ago.
