The situation is still tense in the region

In a televised meeting with Chechnya's pro-Moscow leader, Akhmad Kadyrov, Mr Putin urged officials to begin drafting a power-sharing agreement between Chechnya and the federal government.

The president also called for a law to be drafted on amnesty for separatist rebels.

In Sunday's controversial poll, which was not monitored by Western observers, Chechens and Russian troops stationed there approved overwhelmingly a new constitution that cements the republic's status as part of Russia.

The results of the elections show that Chechen people have made their final choice - they have chosen peace Vladimir Putin

On Thursday two doctors were reportedly found dead from head wounds in a car in the Chechen capital Grozny.

No motive has been established for the killings, the Russian news agency Interfax said.

On Wednesday night, four Russian soldiers died when their armoured vehicle was blown up in an attack which Moscow blames on separatist rebels.

Compensation need

Correspondents say Mr Putin's meeting with Mr Kadyrov is an attempt to defuse criticism of the referendum by human rights groups and Western officials.

Kadyrov will stand for the new presidency

"The results of the elections show that Chechen people have made their final choice. They have chosen peace," Mr Putin said.

According to Russian officials, 96% of listed voters approved the republic's new constitution.

The Russian president spoke of the need to compensate Chechen civilians for their lost housing, in what appeared to be his first admission that Moscow has been slow to respond to their needs.

Rebel opposition

"We must restore the economy of Chechnya, we must create new jobs, but there are more immediate problems. We must restore villages, ruined settlements, we must clear up Grozny, and restore the capital of the Chechen republic," he said.

Chechnya has been ravaged by two wars over the last nine years, with little opportunity for reconstruction in the three years of relative peace in between them.

But Russian officials hope that the referendum, in which voters also backed a new presidency and parliament for the republic, will provide it with credible local authorities.

The rebels opposed the referendum and are still actively resisting Russian forces, particularly in southern mountainous areas of the republic.

Mr Putin has refused to negotiate with rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov, who was elected president in 1997 but driven out of Grozny by Russian forces more than two years later.