The Russian government announced the termination of its "counterterrorism operation" in Chechnya effective April 16. According to the leader of the Russian secret service, Alexander Bortnikov, 20,000 soldiers will leave Chechnya in order to normalise the situation in the autonomous republic of Russia. This happened on behalf of the Russian president Dmitry Medvedev who had already announced a possible withdrawal of the Russian troops at the G20 summit in the beginning of April this year. But some forces, the special forces of Moscow's ministry of the interior, will still stay in Chechnya.

Human rights activist Lew Ponomarjov welcomed the situation, saying that the counterterrorism situation in Chechnya had been a severe violation of human rights.

Local president Ramzan Kadyrov, son of former Chechen leader Akhmad Kadyrov who died in a bomb blast in 2004 in Grozny, is satisfied with the situation. He is now expecting more foreign investment and a better economic growth in the area. He declared April 16 as a future holiday in Chechnya. Human rights organisations, on the other hand, accuse him of letting his own militia torture and kill his opponents.

The Turkish Cypriot's right-wing National Unity Party (UBP), has won the republic's elections on Sunday in a landslide, according to provisional results released by officials. With all votes having been counted, the UBP won 44.06% of all votes, garnering it a majority in Northern Cyprus' 50-seat parliament by provisional accounts.

Incumbent Republican Turkish Party (CTP), an ally of the Turkish Cypriot's leader Mehmet Ali Talat, received the second most votes, taking 29% of the ballot.

Election authorities estimated that voter turnout at the polls was about 81.3%. Around 162,000 people were eligible to vote.