Moscow  - President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday said Russia is ready to consider downgrading its anti-terrorist operations in Chechnya, where it has fought separatists in two wars in the early 1990s, the news agency Interfax reported.

"Since the situation in the Chechen republic has normalized to a large degree and life is returning to normal ... I propose we consider ending the counterterrorism regime which operates in Chechnya," Medvedev told the head of Russia's FSB security services.

Chechnya came under the tighter security controls of federal anti-terrorist operations in 1999, after Russia pulled backed troops battling insurgents in the region.

Earlier this week Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's Moscow-backed leader, said Russia would terminate ten-years of anti-terrorist operations in Chechnya by the end of the month.

"We have completely rooted out terrorism and extremism," Kadyrov was quoted in Russian media as saying. "There are still certain groups of bandits that hide in neighboring regions and make their appearance here. But they do not represent any threat for us." (dpa)