MOSCOW, Oct. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Alu Alkhanov, who scored a landslide victory in Chechnya's presidential election on Aug. 29, was sworn in on Tuesday in the republic's capital of Grozny.

    The pro-Moscow leader took the oath at the swearing-in ceremony "to serve faithfully" and to be a guarantor of Chechnya's constitution, Itar-Tass news agency reported.

    "Today we open a new page in the history of our people," Alkhanov said, stressing that "only together may we be victorious over evil and do away with terrorism on our land."

    Alkhanov came to succeed the late Chechen leader Akhmad Kadyrov,a powerful man whom Russian President Vladimir Putin had relied onto control the restive Chechnya, but he was killed in a terrorist blast on May 9.

    As a favorite of both Putin's government and the Chechen administration, Alkhanov has vowed to carry on Kadyrov's policies and to treat security and social stability as top priorities whiletrying to restore the tattered economy and improve people's life.

    The staunch Kremlin ally in the fight against Chechen separatists has insisted that he would not hold negotiations with rebel leaders and would try to make them surrender.

    Putin delivered a message to the new leader Tuesday, congratulating him on taking office.

    Putin's representative in the Southern Federal District, DmitryKozak, leaders of Russia's republics and regions and many other guests attended the inauguration ceremony.

    Under the constitution, Chechnya's current government will resign soon after the inauguration of Alkhanov, Chechen Prime Minister Sergei Abramov said, promising that a new cabinet will beformed within the next week.

    "We live in such conditions that the republic cannot be left without a strong competent government even for one day," Abramov was cited by Interfax news agency as saying.

    Itar-Tass cited a source close to the new president as reporting that he would not make major reshuffles in the government and most of its key ministers may retain their posts. Enditem