The Winter Olympic torch relay has arrived in Chechnya, as security officials in Russia continue to prepare for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

Torch bearers ran through the streets of the regional capital Grozny on Tuesday. One of them was Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov who said the event was a joyful occasion that helped bring people together.

The Olympic flame passed through the capital of the Russian southern republic of Dagestan on Monday.

The time spent for the Olympic flame travelling through Chechnya and other North Caucasus republics is shorter than in the rest of the country due to security reasons.

Dagestan has become the centre of an Islamic insurgency that has engulfed Russia's North Caucasus after two separatist wars in Chechnya.

An Islamic militant group in Dagestan claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings which killed 34 people in Volgograd in late December. They have also threatened to attack the games in Sochi.