UNKNOWN ASSAILANTS FAIL TO ASSASINATE CHECHEN MUFTI.

In Chechnya, an attempt was made on the life of the republic’s mufti, Akhmed Kadyrov. Five members of his entourage were killed in the bomb explosion, but the mufti himself escaped injury (NTV, May 25).

This was by no means the first attempt to murder the mufti. Kadyrov is a faithful supporter of Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov, and a strong opponent of Chechnya’s Wahabbi Muslims. Given that both the supporters and the opponents of Maskhadov back their positions by appealing to Islam, Kadyrov is a highly inconvenient figure for the Chechen opposition. Indeed, Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, Chechnya’s former president and a Maskhadov foe, said a year ago (before the warring side began resorting to force) that “Russian state policy over the last ten years has tried intensely to divide Islam into warring tendencies and sects. Even before the war, the Russian special services were trying to do this via our so-called muftis. Included among those was–and remains–Kadyrov” (Nezavisimaya gazeta, August 7, 1998).

UKRAINE REJECTS WASHINGTON’S CONCERNS OVER OIL EMBARGO VIOLATIONS.