Hassan Abbas

Hassan Abbas served as the Sub-Divisional Police Chief in the NWFP from 1996-1998, and was the Deputy Director of Investigations in Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau from 1999-2000. Currently, he is a fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and is the author of Pakistan’s Drift into Extremism: Allah, the Army and America’s War on Terror.

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    Articles by Hassan Abbas

    Hassan Abbas

    Hassan Abbas served as the Sub-Divisional Police Chief in the NWFP from 1996-1998, and was the Deputy Director of Investigations in Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau from 1999-2000. Currently, he is

    Religious Liberties and Radicalism in Kazakhstan

     Featuring Kairat Lama SharifChairman of the Religious Affairs Agency in Kazakhstan The Jamestown Foundation invites you to a roundtable discussion with Kairat Lama Sharif, Chairman of the Religious Affairs Agency

    Interfaith Respect and Dialogue in Azerbaijan

    Featuring:Ambassador Elshad Iskandarov Chairman of the State Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan for Religious AssociationsComments by: Vladimir SocorSenior Fellow, The Jamestown FoundationModerator: Margarita Assenova Director of Balkans, Caucasus & Central

    Admiral Timothy J. Keating (USN, Ret.) Joins Jamestown Board

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                           Contact: Caitlin Buckleypubs@jamestown.org202.483.8888 WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Jamestown Foundation is proud to announce the addition of Admiral Timothy J. Keating (USN, Ret.) to the Jamestown board. Admiral Timothy J. Keating

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    TALIBAN SUSPECT U.S. DRAWDOWN IN AFGHANISTAN A COVER FOR PERMANENT BASESAfghanistan’s Taliban movement has reacted to Washington’s announcement that it would begin a phased military withdrawal from Afghanistan, beginning with

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    NIGERIA’S BOKO HARAM ISSUES CONDITIONS AMIDST WAVE OF ISLAMIST VIOLENCE A continuing wave of extremist violence sweeping northern Nigeria arrived in the Nigerian capital of Abuja on June 16, when

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    DISSIDENT GENERAL CLAIMS YEMENI PRESIDENT MANIPULATED AL-QAEDA PRESENCE TO ENSURE HIS PERSONAL RULEIn a recent interview with a pan-Arab daily, Yemen’s Major General Ali Muhsin Saleh al-Ahmar claimed that President

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    ALAWI CONTROL OF THE SYRIAN MILITARY KEY TO REGIME’S SURVIVALWith its central doctrines carefully guarded as religious secrets, the true essence of Alawism has proved elusive to many who have

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    DARFUR REBEL LEADER DISCUSSES SECESSION, SECULARISM AND TIES WITH ISRAELAbdul Wahid Muhammad al-Nur, the Fur leader of the Darfur rebel movement known as the Sudan Liberation Army/Movement – Abdul Wahid

    May 2011 Briefs

    YEMENI TRIBAL CHIEF READY FOR “WAR” AGAINST PRESIDENT SALEH On May 23, forces loyal to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh mounted an assault on the home of Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar,

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    KHARTOUM’S SEIZURE OF DISPUTED ABYEI DISTRICT COULD LAUNCH NEW WAR BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH SUDANLast weekend’s military occupation of the disputed Abyei district by the Northern Sudanese Army is the

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    LIBYAN CONFLICT SHOWS SIGNS OF SPILLING OVER TUNISIAN BORDERThough first indications suggested that Tunisia had avoided a wave of political violence with the overthrow of Tunisian president Zine al-Abidin Ben

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    LIBYAN BERBERS DEFY REGIME THAT DENIES THEIR EXISTENCE (PART TWO)Under increasing pressure from Qaddafi loyalists, the Berbers of the Western Mountains of Libya continue to defy military odds in their

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    LIBYAN BERBERS DEFY REGIME THAT DENIES THEIR EXISTENCE (PART ONE)In the remote mountains that range along Libya’s western border with Tunisia, North Africa’s indigenous Berber tribes are locked in a

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    GROWING DISSATISFACTION IN REBEL CAMP WITH NATO’S CAMPAIGN IN LIBYASince NATO air operations over Libya began on March 19, there have been increasing expectations on the part of rebel forces

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    TURKISH INTELLIGENCE SAYS AL-QAEDA PLANNED ROCKET ATTACK ON U.S. AIR BASETurkish security services claim to have learned of an al-Qaeda plot to use rockets to attack U.S. military aircraft at

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    NEW NIGER PRESIDENT SAYS TRAINING, WEAPONS AND INTELLIGENCE NEEDED IN FIGHT AGAINST AL-QAEDAMahamadou Issoufou, the newly elected president of Niger, laid out his vision of a more active and cooperative

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    SENIOR LIBYAN AL-QAEDA LEADER CALLS FOR ISLAMIC STATE AFTER QADDAFIAn al-Qaeda media front has released a statement from a senior member of the core command regarding the goals of the

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    SYRIAN REGIME DEPLOYS MILITARY IN NAVAL PORT OF LATAKIAFor the first time in his 11 years as ruler of Syria, President Bashar al-Assad has deployed elements of the Syrian military

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    PENINSULA SHIELD FORCE INTERVENES IN BAHRAIN Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa has announced a “foreign plot” against his country was thwarted by the military intervention of forces under the

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    LIBYAN AL-QAEDA LEADER SAYS JIHAD IS THE ONLY SOLUTION FOR LIBYAA Libyan al-Qaeda spokesman has released a 31-minute video claiming al-Qaeda created the conditions that allowed for revolutions in Tunisia

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    LIBYAN LOYALISTS AND DISSIDENTS VIE FOR TUAREG FIGHTERSWith the fate of Libya in the balance, both sides in the struggle to determine its future are appealing to North Africa’s indigenous

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    TALIBAN SPOKESMAN SEES “PRESCRIPTION OF DEMOCRACY” AS PART OF U.S. MILITARY STRATEGYTaliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid gave an interview to the media service of the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” on February

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    HAVE DARFUR REBELS JOINED QADDAFI’S MERCENARY DEFENDERS?A handful of unconfirmed reports from Libya have cited the presence of Darfur rebels in the ranks of the African mercenaries defending the regime

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    GAMA’A AL-ISLAMIYA LEADER SAYS EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION BELONGS “ONLY TO THOSE WHO IGNITED IT”An ideological leader of former Egyptian militant group al-Gama’a al-Islamiya (GI - The Islamic Group) recently told a

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    MAURITANIAN ISLAMISTS EYE EGYPTIAN PROTESTS AS AL-QAEDA SEEKS REVENGE ON PRESIDENT ABDEL AZIZIn an interview with a Nouakchott daily, Jemil Mansour, leader of the Islamist Rassemblement national pour la réforme

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    AFGHAN TALIBAN ISSUE GUIDELINES FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF ISLAMIC EMIRATEOne of the major weaknesses of most militant Islamist groups is their almost complete lack of a political program or consideration of

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    NIGERIAN ELITE FORCE ACCUSED OF MURDERS IN PLATEAU STATEOngoing violence in Nigeria’s mixed Christian-Muslim Plateau State took a new turn when an elite force of Nigerian troops tasked with restoring

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    SUDANESE ANSAR LEADER SADIQ AL-MAHDI REJECTS THE VIOLENCE OF THE “AL-QAEDA MENTALITY”Sudan’s leading opposition figure, Umma Party leader Sadiq al-Mahdi, has been increasingly vocal in recent weeks as public dissatisfaction

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    ARABS AND TUAREG CLASH OVER NARCOTICS SMUGGLING IN NORTHERN MALIEmerging reports describe a major gun-battle between Bérabiche Arabs escorting a convoy of Moroccan cannabis through the Malian Sahel and a

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    UNCLAIMED NEW YEAR’S DAY BOMBING IN ABUJA RATTLES NIGERIA’S POWER STRUCTUREA New Year’s Eve bombing within the confines of a Nigerian military base in the capital city of Abuja has

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    RUSSIAN OPERATIONS IN TATARSTAN ELIMINATE MILITANT ISLAMIST CELLRussian security forces conducted a special operation in the Tatarstan village of Novoye Almetyevo against a group of three Islamist militants. The gunmen

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    AQAP DEPUTY LEADER AL-SHIHRI URGES SOLDIERS OF THE HOUSE OF SA’UD TO JOIN JIHADA new communiqué from the Saudi Arabian deputy leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Abu

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    FORMER AQAP INTELLIGENCE CHIEF DESCRIBES EGYPTIAN ROLE IN AL-QAEDAA Kuwaiti daily recently published a transcript of the interrogation of Shaykh Ibrahim Muhammad Salih al-Banna (a.k.a. Abu Ayman al-Masri), the Egyptian

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    INDONESIA’S CONTROVERSIAL SPECIAL FORCES REGAIN U.S. SUPPORT IN COUNTERRORISM STRUGGLEElite special military forces have played a critical role on the asymmetrical battlefield of the war on terrorism. While applying sophisticated

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    AL-QAEDA USURPS YEMEN’S ADEN-ABYAN ARMYIn an effort to create insecurity in Yemen’s south in anticipation of a major Gulf region sporting event to be held in the area, the Yemen-based

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    TUAREG REBELS JOINING BATTLE AGAINST AL-QAEDA IN THE SAHARA?On October 14 former Tuareg rebels under the command of Ibrahim Ag Bahanga attacked a heavily armed convoy of cocaine smugglers roughly

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    PHILIPPINES ADOPTS MORE MOBILE SEA-BASED STRATEGY AGAINST ABU SAYYAFThe Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are restructuring their campaign against Abu Sayyaf Islamist militants in Western Mindanao by adopting the

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    RENEGADE OPPOSITION LEADER PREDICTS OIL WAR IN SUDANIn a recent interview with a pan-Arab daily, a leading Sudanese politician claimed a vote for secession by the oil-rich South Sudan in

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    TRIBAL DISPUTE MAKES OIL-RICH ABYEI REGION POTENTIAL FLASHPOINT FOR RENEWED SUDANESE CONFLICTThe future of the Sudan may lay in Abyei, a relatively small district on the border between Sudan’s North

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    EGYPTIAN ISLAMIC GROUP IDEOLOGIST DR. NAJIH IBRAHIM SAYS TIME IS NOT RIGHT FOR ISLAMISTS TO SEIZE POWERDr. Najih Ibrahim, the principal theorist of Egypt’s al-Gama’a al-Islamiya (GI - Islamic Group),

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    SAHARAN MERCENARY EMPLOYED BY AL-QAEDA FREED IN HOSTAGE EXCHANGEWhile mercenaries have played an important role in the war on terrorism from the beginning, the use of private forces has until

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    HAS AL-QAEDA STARTED A FEUD WITH THE TUAREG?Fallout continues in North Africa from the July 22 raid on elements of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The joint operation by French

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    AFGHAN MUJAHIDEEN DETERMINED TO CLOSE KABUL TO KANDAHAR CORRIDORShaykh Nur ul-Haqq Mujahid bin Mohamed, the Taliban military commander in the Maydan Shahr district of Wardak province, stated in a recent

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    WILL INDIA DEPLOY ITS ARMY AGAINST MAOIST TERRORISTS?India is considering a large-scale redeployment of specialized counterterrorist commandos based in Kashmir-Jammu and a paramilitary force based in Northeast India to combat

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    TURKS SUSPECT ISRAELI ROLE IN PKK ATTACK ON NAVAL BASE AT ISKENDERUNHours before the deadly Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara and other ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, an

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    AFRICOM’S OPERATION FLINTLOCK: NEW PARTNERS AND NEW QUESTIONSIn the midst of a major drive to increase security in Africa’s Saharan and Sahel nations, American, African and European military forces have

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    RUSSIAN NAVY TO USE PORT IN DJIBOUTI FOR ANTI-PIRACY OPERATIONSNews that the Russian Navy will begin using port facilities in Djibouti is further proof that the small, resource poor nation

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    WITH ELECTIONS OVER, KHARTOUM GOES ON THE OFFENSIVE IN DARFURThe leader of Darfur’s most effective rebel movement, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), was recently in Cairo seeking greater Egyptian

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    LEBANESE FORCES LEADER DEMANDS INCORPORATION OF HIZBOLLAH’S WEAPONS INTO LEBANESE ARMYThe issue of who should control weapons belonging to the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah continues to dominate meetings of Lebanon’s

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    CONTROVERSIAL GATHERING OF ISLAMIC SCHOLARS REFUTES AL-QAEDA’S IDEOLOGICAL CORNERSTONEAl-Qaeda and related Islamist militant groups have long relied on the works of a 14th century Syrian-born Islamic scholar for the ideological

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    SOMALI SUFIS ENTER GOVERNMENT AS AL-SHABAAB CONTINUES ITS WAR ON THE DEADFollowing an earlier campaign of grave desecrations and exhumations in southern Somalia, al-Shabaab militants have now turned their attention

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    MILITANTS REVIVE NIGER DELTA INSURGENCY WITH BOMBING “FROM THE PIT OF HELL”Nigeria’s Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) made clear its complete rejection of the amnesty program

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    NEW MILITARY STRATEGY AGAINST TERRORISM IN MAURITANIATaking Algeria’s lead in securing its southern borders in the Sahara/Sahel region against terrorists, smugglers, drug traffickers and kidnapping gangs, the Mauritanian Army has

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    AL-QAEDA VOWS TO BLOCK STRATEGIC AL-MANDAB STRAITAl-Qaeda has never attempted to seize and hold strategic territory, but this may be about to change, according to an audiotape message from the

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    AL-QAEDA IDEOLOGUE RULES ON PERMISSIBILITY OF MASS-CASUALTY MARKET BOMBINGSAl-Qaeda’s al-Fajr Media Center has released a religious ruling on the permissibility of mass-casualty attacks in public places like markets. Written by

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    MAURITANIA’S IMPRISONED ISLAMISTS DEBATE JIHAD WITH RELIGIOUS SCHOLARS ON PUBLIC TELEVISIONBuoyed by the successful transition of power after recent elections and the reconciliation of the government and opposition, Mauritania is

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    RECLUSIVE LEADER OF HAQQANI NETWORK SPEAKS TO PRESS AS U.S. URGES HIS ELIMINATIONSirajuddin Haqqani, leader of the dangerously effective and independently operated “Haqqani Network” of Taliban insurgents, terrorists and suicide

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    ARMED OPPOSITION GROUPS REDEPLOY IN WAKE OF CHAD-SUDAN BORDER SECURITY PACTRecent talks in N’djamena seem to confirm both Sudan and Chad have realized that their use of proxies in a

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    MYSTERY SURROUNDS DEVASTATION OF KARACHI MARKETS AFTER ASHURA BLASTThe terrorist bombing that struck an Ashura Shiite religious procession in downtown Karachi on December 28 was followed by a wave of

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    FALLOUT FROM MOGADISHU GRADUATION BOMBING RIPPLES THROUGH EXTREMISTS AND GOVERNMENT ALIKEThe sight of the black flag of the highly feared al-Shabaab organization being burned in the streets of Mogadishu by

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    TALIBAN PREDICT PRESIDENT OBAMA’S “COLONIAL STRATEGY” WILL LEAD TO AMERICAN COLLAPSEIn the midst of extensive coverage of President Obama’s decision to send another 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan, the Taliban’s

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    DEPUTY AMIR OF TALIBAN REJECTS U.S. PLAN TO CREATE AN “AWAKENING” MOVEMENT IN AFGHANISTANLate last month, Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin described a new law signed by President

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    TALIBAN AIM TO ELIMINATE U.S. BASES IN NURISTAN In the wake of an attack that nearly overran a U.S. military outpost in Afghanistan’s Nuristan province, the Taliban have released a

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    AL-SHABAAB BLAMED FOR ASSASSINATION OF MILITARY COMMANDER IN DISPUTED SOMALI REGION OF SOOLViolence in the strategically located Somali city of Las Anod continues to threaten a new round of warfare

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    PAKISTANI SECURITY SWEEP SEIZES TALIBAN LEADERS IN KARACHI  Pakistani security forces have announced the arrest of Akhtar Zaman Mahsud, the alleged Amir of the Karachi branch of the Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP)

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    PAKISTANI TALIBAN COMMANDER DESCRIBES COUNTER-MEASURES AGAINST UAV ATTACKSA commander of the Pakistan Taliban, Sahimullah Mahsud, recently provided a description of the measures taken by the Taliban forces and leadership to

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    “NO MIRACLES IN THE WAR ON TERROR”: TURKISH CHIEF OF STAFF COMMENTS ON CONFLICT WITH THE PKKIn a live speech carried by Turkish media on September 21, Turkish Chief of

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    U.S. TRAINED “COLONEL IMAM” DISCUSSES BIN LADEN, STINGER MISSILES AND THE TALIBAN Karachi’s Geo News conducted an interview on September 13 with Colonel Imam, a former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officer who

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    YEMEN’S PRESIDENT ACCUSES IRAQ’S SADRISTS OF BACKING THE HOUTHI INSURGENCY Offers from the Iranian government and Iraq’s militant Shi’ite leader Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr to mediate the ongoing and seemingly intractable struggle

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    ISLAMISTS WARN FRANCE AGAINST MILITARY ROLE IN SOMALIA With al-Shabaab extremists threatening to try a captured French security advisor in Somalia under their version of Islamic law, the radical Islamist movement

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    FIRST SUICIDE BOMBING IN MAURITANIA MAY HERALD NEW AL-QAEDA OFFENSIVE Suicide bombing made its first appearance in Mauritania on August 8 when a man armed with an explosives belt blew himself

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    ALGERIA TURNS TO SUFISM TO FIGHT SALAFI EXTREMISM After decades of discouraging the practice of Sufi Islam, Algerian authorities are now turning to Sufism as an ideological weapon in their struggle

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    IS PAKISTAN REVERSING STRATEGY OF ISOLATING BAITULLAH MAHSUD IN WAZIRISTAN? As Pakistani F-16 fighters attack Taliban targets in South Waziristan, the government and military leadership appear to be reconsidering their earlier

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    SOMALI EXTREMISTS FIGHT OVER FRENCH INTELLIGENCE AGENTS KIDNAPPED IN MOGADISHU France’s growing involvement in Somalia suddenly drew attention when two French intelligence agents were kidnapped from a supposedly secure hotel in

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    KURDISH POLITICAL LEADER CLAIMS PLAN TO DISSOLVE THE PKK IS FINALIZEDBayram Bozyel, the General Chairman of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Hak-Par (Rights and Freedom Party) has disclosed a plan he claims will

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    TURKEY SEEKING U.S. REAPERS AND SUPER COBRAS FOR COUNTERTERRORIST OPERATIONSDissatisfied with the results of a joint venture with Israel to supply the Turkish Armed Forces (Turk Silahli Kuvvetleri -TSK) with

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    “THE WHOLE OF AFRICA WILL GO UP IN FLAMES”: THE TALIBAN LOOK AT U.S. DESIGNS ON AFRICAN ENERGY RESOURCES Afghanistan’s Taliban movement turned their attention to the U.S. role in Somalia

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    NIGER DELTA’S “OSAMA BIN LADEN” SURRENDERS TO NIGERIAN AUTHORITIES Nigerian president Umaru Yar’Adua declared an amnesty program for armed groups in the Niger Delta on June 25. Those taking advantage of

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    WAR WITH AL-QAEDA HEATS UP IN NORTHERN MALI AFTER ASSASSINATION OF INTELLIGENCE OFFICER Assassins believed to be with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) burst into the Timbuktu residence of a

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    AL-QAEDA LEADER ABU ABDALLAH AHMAD DESCRIBES STRUGGLE WITH THE CRUSADERS FOR NORTH AFRICAAbu Abdallah Ahmad, head of the Political Committee of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), has discussed the

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    PRESIDENT OBAMA’S OUTREACH TO THE MUSLIM WORLD (I) – AFGHAN TALIBAN ATTACK BARACK OBAMA’S “ARROGANT” CAIRO SPEECHU.S. President Barack Obama’s June 4 speech in Cairo was seen by many observers

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    TALIBAN COMMANDER DESCRIBES OFFENSIVE IN AFGHANISTAN’S NORTHERN PROVINCES Ongoing Taliban military operations in northern Afghanistan were recently described by Khalid Haidari, the “official in charge of [Taliban] military affairs” in the

    Briefs

    North Caucasus Natives Reportedly Arrested in EgyptRussian news sources reported on May 29 that Russian citizens in Egypt, most of them students at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, had been detained

    Dagestan Plagued by Shootings and Power Cuts

    The deputy mufti of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Dagestan, Akhmed Tagaev, was shot dead in the republic’s capital, Makhachkala, on May 25. As Interfax noted, Tagaev was in

    Militants Reportedly Killed in Nalchik Shootout

    Several militants were reportedly killed during a special operation in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, on May 28. According to some Russian media, two rebels were killed after a 12-hour

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    AFGHAN TALIBAN PREDICT U.S. CHANGE OF COMMAND WILL LEAD TO AMERICAN COLLAPSE Afghan Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi has delivered the movement’s reaction to Washington’s decision to make changes in the

    Top Investigator Murdered in Dagestan

    The deputy head of the investigative committee of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office in Dagestan, Seifudin Kaziakhmedov, was shot dead in Dagestan’s capital Makhachkala on May 21. Agence France-Presse reported

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    KUWAIT’S HAMID ABDALLAH AL-ALI DESCRIBES PENDING DEFEAT OF AMERICANS IN AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN Shaykh Hamid Abdallah al-Ali, a leading Kuwait-based Salafist preacher and advocate of global jihad, has declared that Islam’s

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    Isa Yamadaev: Sulim Yamadaev is Alive and on the MendIn an interview with the Rosbalt News Agency on May 4, Isa Yamadaev, the brother of former Vostok battalion commander Sulim

    Policemen in Chechnya Killed in Attacks

    A police officer in Chechnya was killed and three others seriously wounded May 3 when militants opened fire on the cars in the republic’s Achkhoi-Martan district, RIA Novosti and The

    Kadyrov Says He’ll Step Down—in 10 Years

    In an interview with Die Presse published May 3, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said that he will step down in ten years, when the republic is “flourishing.”  Kadyrov told the

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    AL-QAEDA’S ABU YAHYA AL-LIBI ATTACKS PAKISTAN’S “CRIMINAL ARMY” IN NEW BOOKA 29-page Arabic-language book entitled Sharpening the Blades in the Battle Against the Government and Army of Pakistan was released

    Delimkhanov Placed on Interpol Wanted List

    Seven Russian citizens, including Adam Delimkhanov, the State Duma deputy and cousin of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, have been put on Interpol’s wanted list at the request of the United

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    AFGHAN TALIBAN REJECT CLAIMS THEY ARE LED BY AL-QAEDA An important interview with senior Taliban spokesman Zabihollah Mujahid attracted little attention in Western media despite indications in the interview of several

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    IRAQ-BASED KOMALA PARTY DESCRIBES THE STRUGGLE FOR IRANIAN KURDISTANThe leader of an armed Kurdish-Iranian opposition group recently described his group’s continuing struggle for an autonomous Iranian Kurdistan and his views

    Kadyrov and Co. Leap to Delimkhanov’s Defense

    Officials of Chechnya’s pro-Moscow administration this week denounced authorities in the United Arab Emirates for accusing Adam Delimkhanov, the Russian State Duma deputy and first cousin of Chechen President Ramzan

    Kadyrov Has Eliminated All Competitors

    Few independent observers doubt that Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov was in some way connected to the shooting of Sulim Yamadaev in Dubai. In any case, Kadyrov has gained the most

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    SAUDI AL-QAEDA LEADER OUTLINES NEW STRATEGY AND TACTICS OF AL-QAEDA IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA In a statement delivered on Saudi Arabia’s state-owned Al-Ikhbariyah TV, a former leading member of al-Qaeda in

    Yamadaev’s Murder—Cui Bono?

    Kavkazky Uzel on April 1 quoted Anatoly Tsyganok, head of the Center for Military Forecasts at the Institute of Political and Military Studies, as saying that former Vostok battalion commander

    Sulim Yamadaev Reportedly Assassinated in Dubai

    Dubai’s The National newspaper reported on April 2 that police in the United Arab Emirates had detained “the prime suspect” in the killing of Sulim Yamadaev, the former commander of

    Briefs

    Policeman Abducted and Killed in ChechnyaChechnya’s Interior Ministry said on March 25 that a police officer was abducted by militants and killed in the republic's Vedeno district, The Associated Press

    Observers Mull Kadyrov’s Latest Demarche

    Kommersant on March 26 quoted Akhmed Zakaev, the London-based prime minister of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, as saying of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov’s assertion that an announcement of

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    EASTERN SUDAN’S FREE LIONS MOVEMENT CLAIMS U.S.-FRENCH AIRSTRIKES ON SUDANESE-EGYPTIAN BORDER The Free Lions Movement of Eastern Sudan is reporting airstrikes on arms smugglers along the Egyptian-Sudanese border by French and

    Briefs

    Prosecutors in Ingushetia Order New Probe into Yevloev’s DeathProsecutors in Ingushetia have ordered a new investigation into how opposition website founder Magomed Yevloev was shot and killed in police custody

    General Asks Chechens to Inform on Rebels

    The commander of the United Group of Forces in the North Caucasus, Lieutenant General Nikolai Sivak, delivered a message to the Chechen people on March 18, asking them to inform

    Four Militants Killed in Kabardino-Balkaria

    The Associated Press (AP) reported on March 19 that four gunmen were killed during a three-hour gun battle with police in Kabardino-Balkaria. Kavkazky Uzel reported on March 19 that the

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    SALAFIST WAR ON SUFI ISLAM SPREADS TO PESHAWAR The bombing of a famous Pesahawar shrine dedicated to a local Sufi saint is the latest episode of what appears to be an

    Briefs

    Chechnya: Civilian Killed, Policeman Wounded, Arms SeizedA civilian was killed on March 12 when an antipersonnel mine detonated in a wooded area near the village of Dargo in Chechnya’s Vedeno

    Kadyrov Youth Group Makes Appearance in Chechnya

    Kavkazky Uzel reported on March 11 that a group it described as “Yunykh Kadyrovtsy”—the Young Kadyrovites—has appeared in Chechnya’s grammar schools. According to the website, Chechen television on March 10

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    PRO-GOVERNMENT WARLORD LAUNCHES ATTACK IN SOUTH SUDAN’S OIL-RICH MALAKAL REGION Fierce fighting broke out last week in the oil-rich region in and around Malakal, the capital of Sudan’s Upper Nile State,

    Briefs

    Insurgent Violence in Dagestan Shows No Signs of Letting UpA suspected member of an “illegal armed group” was killed in Dagestan’s Sergo-Kala district on March 4, Interfax reported. Dagestan’s Interior

    Kadyrov Defends Honor Killings

    Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said last week that the bodies of seven young women with gunshots to the head were found dumped by roadsides in Chechnya late last year and

    Six Policemen Killed in Ingushetia Bombing

    Six policemen were killed and two injured in a bomb blast in Ingushetia on March 5. Russian news agencies, citing republican Interior Ministry sources, reported that the blast took place

    Rebels Attack Servicemen, Police in Chechnya

    A serviceman with a Russian Defense Ministry special unit was severely wounded on February 23 when he stepped on a mine in Chechnya’s Shatoi district. According to Kavkazky Uzel, the

    Five Militants Killed in Dagestan Operation

    Security forces killed five suspected militants in three separate apartment sieges during a two-day operation in Dagestan, the Associated Press (AP) reported on February 22. The news agency quoted Makhachkala

    Chechen-Ingush Deportation Anniversary Marked

    February 23 was the 65th anniversary of Josef Stalin’s deportation of the Chechen and Ingush—accused by the Soviet dictator of collaborating with the Nazis—to Kazakhstan and elsewhere in the Soviet

    Briefs

    Police and Militants Again Exchange Fire in DagestanA policeman was shot dead and another gravely wounded when unidentified gunmen attacked a police patrol in Dagestan’s capital Makhachkala, Itar-Tass reported on

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    EGYPTIAN ISLAMISTS URGE AL-QAEDA TO DECLARE A TRUCE Al-Jama'ah al-Islamiyah (JI - The Islamic Group), once one of Egypt's most feared Islamist terrorist organizations, has issued a statement urging al-Qaeda

    Briefs

    Chechen Prosecutors Reopen Investigation of Budanov for KidnappingThe Chechen Investigation Department under the Investigative Committee of the federal Prosecutor General’s Office reopened a probe into alleged kidnappings by Yuri Budanov,

    Zakaev Rejects Kadyrov’s Invitation

    Akhmed Zakaev, the London-based prime minister of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI) government-in-exile, responded to Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov’s claim in an interview published the previous day that

    Briefs

    Former Deputy Mayor of Grozny Murdered in MoscowFormer Grozny Deputy Mayor Gilani Shepiev was murdered in Moscow in the early hours of February 5. Newsru.com quoted an anonymous Moscow law-enforcement

    BRIEFS

    IS AL-QAEDA IN THE ISLAMIC MAGHREB TESTING BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS? Rumors of a plague outbreak among al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) members in the caves of Algeria's eastern Tizi Ouzou

    The War on Dagestan’s Police Continues

    The Regnum News Agency on January 28 quoted Russia’s Interior Ministry as reporting that an arms cache containing several grenades for grenade launchers, eight hand grenades, more than a thousand

    BRIEFS

    PAKISTANI TALIBAN THREATEN ISRAEL AND PASHTUN NATIONALISTS WITH SUICIDE BOMBERS Well-pleased with the local “success” of their suicide bombing campaign, the leaders of Pakistan’s Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are now threatening

    BRIEFS

    NEW CHIEF OF PAKISTAN’S ISI DEFENDS TALIBAN’S RIGHT TO JIHAD In a recent interview with Germany’s Der Spiegel, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director-General, Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, gave a rather

    Kadyrov Denounces Parole for Budanov

    Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov declared on January 13 that he categorically opposes the decision to grant parole to Yuri Budanov, the Russian colonel who was convicted in 2003 of murdering

    Spain Extradites Chechen Terror Suspect

    On New Year’s  Eve, Spain extradited to Russia a Chechen accused of involvement in the June 2004 rebel attacks on the Ingush Interior Ministry building and other installations in Nazran.

    Chechens Protest Parole for Budanov

    Some 2,000, people rallied in Chechnya on December 29 to protest the granting of parole to Yuri Budanov, the Russian colonel who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for

    Spain Agrees to Extradite Former Rebel Commander

    Spain on December 13 agreed to extradite a Chechen wanted on terrorism charges, Murad Gasayev, to Russia in connection with the June 2004 attack on government buildings in Ingushetia. According

    BRIEFS

    BANGLADESHI JIHAD MOVEMENT SENDS THREATS OF A NEW BOMBING CAMPAIGN BY REGISTERED MAILThe Media Department of the Jamiat-ul-Mojahedin Bangladesh (JMB) has sent a package of threats and propaganda materials to

    KBR Authorities Again Vow to Catch Anzor Astemirov

    Authorities in the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic (KBR) announced on December 5 that they are searching for the militants who murdered the head of the republic’s anti-organized crime directorate (UBOP), Anatoly Kyarov,

    Kadyrov Performs the Hajj Pilgrimage

    Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Muzdalifah, near Mecca, in Saudi Arabia on December 9. Ziyad Sabsabi, the Russian Federation Council member representing Chechnya,

    Ingush President Makes Opposition Lawyer His Adviser

    Ingush President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov this week appointed Musa Pliyev, the lawyer for the family of the slain opposition website founder, Magomed Yevloyev, as an adviser on law-enforcement issues. Pliyev told

    VIDEO: The Expanding Geography of Militant Jihad

    Featuring Keynote Speaker Hekmat Karzai Tuesday, December 9, 2008 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The National Press Club VIDEOS: Keynote Speaker Hekmat Karzai "Bringing Order to Chaos: A Strategic Framework

    Briefs

    Security Forces, Militants Killed in Chechnya SkirmishesRussian Interior Ministry officers killed two militants in a wooded area near the village of Kerla-Yurt in Chechnya’s Groznensky district, Interfax reported on December

    Women Found Murdered in Chechnya

    The federal Investigative Committee said November 26 that they had launched an investigation into the murder of six women whose bodies were found that morning in and around the Chechen

    Human Rights Violations Remain Rife in Ingushetia

    While some observers have praised Ingush President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov and members of the republic’s opposition have expressed a willingness to give the new leader a chance to make the changes

    Medov Removed as Ingushetia’s Interior Minister

    Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev removed Musa Medov as Ingushetia’s interior minister on November 24. Medov, along with Murat Zyazikov, who was removed as Ingushetia’s president late last month (North

    BRIEFS

    SOMALI ISLAMISTS THREATEN KENYA’S PEACEKEEPING DEPLOYMENTIn an effort to prop up Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG), Kenya has decided to send a battalion of troops to join the undermanned African

    Kadyrov Leads a Special Operation

    Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov personally organized and led a special operation aimed at members of “illegal armed formations” in Chechnya’s Kurchaloi and Nozhai-Yurt districts on November 14-15, Interfax reported, citing

    BRIEFS

    SPAIN’S GUARDIA CIVIL SEIZES TERRORIST MANUAL ADVOCATING “SECRECY IN JIHAD”Spain’s Guardia Civil has released details of a terrorist manual discovered in the Catalonian home of Muhammad Mrabet, a Moroccan national

    Briefs

    Special Forces Members Targeted in ChechnyaPrague Watchdog reported on November 3 that a checkpoint on the road between Gudermes and Shuani manned by a company from the Vostok special battalion

    Kadyrov and Qaddafi Profess Mutual Admiration

    Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, who made an official visit to Moscow this past weekend, met in the Russian capital with Ramzan Kadyrov and accepted an invitation from the Chechen president

    BRIEFS

    SOMALI CONFLICT SPILLS OVER INTO KENYAKenyan security agencies were put on high alert on October 30 in response to threats from Somalia’s al-Shabaab movement. Al-Shabaab leader Shaykh Mukhtar Robow “Abu

    KASHAGAN PROJECT DELAYS SERVE RUSSIAN INTERESTS

    At a recent government session Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Massimov congratulated Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sauat Mynbayev on the successful outcome of talks with the international Agip KCO

    China 2008 (Video Available)

    Location: Washington, DC China 2008: Changes in the Chinese Leadership and Beijing's New Policies on Reform, Tibet and Taiwan

    Is the NWFP Slipping out of Pakistan’s Control?

    A discredited military regime in the center, the problematic rule of a religious political alliance (Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, or MMA), ill-planned military operations in the adjacent Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)

    Who Tried to Kill Benazir Bhutto?

    Benazir Bhutto, twice-elected prime minister of Pakistan and the first woman head of a Muslim state, decided to terminate her self-exile and return to Pakistan last week. By all accounts,

    The Road to Lal Masjid and its Aftermath

    It is clear that most Pakistanis wanted Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) leader Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi to be held accountable for his vigilantism and for trying to enforce his extremist

    Strasbourg Court Again Rules Against Russia

    The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, ruled on June 21 that the Russian authorities were responsible for the 2003 killing of Zura Bitieva, her husband, one of

    NATO Strikes Taliban Militants in Pakistani Territory

    The covert understanding between the Pakistani government and NATO/ISAF in Afghanistan regarding direct U.S. military action in Pakistan's tribal areas is hardly a secret anymore. Officially, the Pakistani government forbids

    Transforming Pakistan’s Frontier Corps

    While the jury is still out on whether General Pervez Musharraf's limitations in overpowering the Taliban in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas are primarily an outcome of "incapacity" or "unwillingness" (or

    Profiles of Pakistan’s Seven Tribal Agencies

    The notion of "tribal culture" in the West often brings to mind images of backward, uneducated and unsophisticated societies. Perpetual chaos in states like Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, for instance,

    Ramzan Comes of Age

    Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov turned 30, the minimum age under the republic’s constitution for the post of president, on October 5. Kadyrov gave several interviews that covered a wide

    REBEL ATTACKS ON THE RISE IN CHECHNYA

    Rebel attacks have increased in Chechnya over the last week. Interfax reported on September 28 that a police officer was killed and another wounded in an attack by “members of

    VIOLENCE PERSISTS DESPITE AMNESTY OFFER

    The death of Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basaev (Chechnya Weekly, July 14) and Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Nikolai Patrushev’s offer of amnesty to Chechnya’s rebels (Chechnya Weekly, July 20)

    BASAEV’S DEATH: VERSIONS ABOUND

    The circumstances surrounding the July 10 death in Ingushetia of Shamil Basaev, the Chechen rebel military commander and recently appointed vice president of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI),

    SADULAEV’S DEATH: THE OFFICIAL VERSION

    The death of Chechen separatist leader Abdul-Khalim Sadulaev was first announced by Chechen government officials on June 17. Interfax quoted Chechen government minister Muslim Khuchiev as saying that Sadulaev was

    CHECHEN REFUGEES FACE HARDSHIP ACROSS EUROPE

    Russian authorities flew 125 Chechen refugees on December 6 from Tbilisi, Georgia, to Makhachkala, Dagestan, where they were to be taken by bus to Chechnya, the Associated Press reported. The

    SADULAEV ISSUES DECREES

    Chechen rebel leader Abdul-Khalim Sadulaev, who is president of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI), issued three decrees, which were published by the Kavkazcenter and Chechenpress websites on August

    ASSASSINATIONS CONTINUE IN DAGESTAN

    The Sharia Jamaat also claimed responsibility for the murder of Magomedzagid Varisov. On June 28, Magomedzagid Varisov, a well-known political scientist and journalist, was shot to death as he pulled

    KADYROV VERSUS GANTAMIROV: TROUBLE BREWING

    On May 28, Bislan Gantamirov, the former Grozny mayor and Chechen vice-premier, sent a letter to the federal authorities asking for protection for his family from what he characterized as

    NEWSPAPER PROVIDES FRESH BESLAN DETAILS

    In a three-part series published May 24-26, Moskovsky komsomolets shed new light on the Beslan hostage tragedy based on investigative documents and testimony from officials who were involved in the

    GROWING CONCERNS IN MOSCOW ABOUT KADYROV

    Akhmad Kadryov spends relatively little time in his presidential office in Grozny, according to a report by Anna Politkovskaya in the November 20 issue of Novaya gazeta. His life is

    RUSSIAN COMMANDOS FACE TRIAL FOR MURDERS

    Could the trial of GRU spetsnaz commandos for murdering Chechen civilians become another Budanov case (see Chechnya Weekly, July 31)? In a November 20 article for Novaya gazeta, Anna Politkovskaya

    GROUPS APPEAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AID

    On November 19 several non-government organizations providing humanitarian assistance in the northern Caucasus made a joint announcement with the United Nations, appealing for US$62 million in voluntary donations for charitable

    ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS MADE ON KADYROV OFFICIALS

    According to a November 24 report in Novye izvestia, assassination attempts were mounted on three different high ranking officials of the Kadyrov administration last weekend. All three were unsuccessful. The

    PROVOCATION IN CAMPAIGN FOR PARLIAMENT SEAT?

    In a bizarre incident that may have been deliberately planned to discredit parliamentary candidate Salambek Maigov, Grozny police briefly detained a member of his campaign staff last week. Maigov, one

    WAR IN CHECHNYA BOOSTS REFUGEES SEEKING ASYLUM

    Thanks mostly to Chechnya, Russia has suddenly become the world's largest source of would-be refugees seeking political asylum in western Europe. A November 19 Radio Liberty report by Jeremy Bransten

    WINTER: THE GOOD NEWS AND THE BAD

    With winter approaching, the intensity of combat operations in Chechnya is likely to diminish. During the leafless winter the republic's forests provide the rebel guerrillas with less cover to shield

    BOOK REVIEW

    Thomas Goltz, Chechnya Diary: A War Correspondent's Story of Surviving the War in Chechnya, St. Martin's Press, New York, 2003. Reviewed by Lawrence A. Uzzell On April 7 and 8,

    UNEXPECTED SIGNALS FROM KADYROV

    In a reversal of his previous policies, Akhmad Kadyrov has announced his willingness to negotiate with the president of Chechnya's underground separatist government. As reported by Andrei Riskin in a

    ZAKAEV TAKES HARD LINE TOWARD KREMLIN

    Chechen diplomat Akhmed Zakaev, fresh from his stunning victory over the Russian authorities in a London court (see below), now explicitly rejects the possibility of revived negotiations with the Putin

    ALL EYES ON SPECIAL TREATY PROPOSAL

    An indicator that Kremlin-watchers will be monitoring during the next few weeks: Will Kadyrov succeed in the near future in getting Vladimir Putin's signature onto a special treaty allocating powers

    KADYROV AND SILOVIKI CONTINUE TO CLASH?

    An article by Andrei Pilipchuk in the November 12 issue of Krasnaya zvezda ("Red Star"), the Russian military's newspaper, suggests that relations between the Kadyrov administration and Russia's security agencies

    QUESTIONS HANG OVER RUSSIAN CAPTIVES

    Did the Russian government pay a ransom, or possibly release captured rebel guerrillas, in order to win the release last week of two officials from its own procuracy who had

    AUTHORITIES SUPPRESS INFORMATION ABOUT 1999 BOMBINGS

    Russian authorities may have even more reason than previously suspected for launching a bogus criminal case against the dissident lawyer Mikhail Trepashkin (see Chechnya Weekly, November 6 and November 13).

    LORD JUDD SHARPENS CRITICISM OF KREMLIN

    Britain's Lord Frank Judd has been moving toward a stronger anti-Kremlin position on Chechnya ever since he resigned in the spring from his position as the Council of Europe's chief

    MUSA MURADOV TO SPEAK IN NEW YORK

    Readers of Chechnya Weekly in the New York area will be interested in a briefing by Musa Muradov hosted by the Committee to Protect Journalists, scheduled for November 24. Muradov,

    WHAT DO KREMLIN CHANGES MEAN FOR CHECHNYA?

    The recent upheavals in the Kremlin, including the resignation of Aleksandr Voloshin as President Vladimir Putin's chief of staff, could portend major changes in the Kremlin's policies on Chechnya. Voloshin

    DISSIDENT LAWYER JAILED ON TRUMPED UP CHARGES

    The use of ostensibly criminal cases to pursue political objectives, a well-established tactic in both Soviet and post-Soviet Russia, is apparently being used again to silence those who challenge the

    KREMLIN TRIES TO DISCREDIT HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS

    How many Chechens have disappeared in "zachistki" security sweeps by pro-Moscow or pro-Kadyrov gunmen? Abdul-Khakim Sultygov, Vladimir Putin's special representative for human rights in Chechnya, said last week that independent

    LITTLE PROGRESS IN COMPENSATION PAYMENTS

    An October 29 article by Said Bitsoev in Novye izvestia noted the excruciatingly slow rate of progress in what is supposed to be one of Putin's and Kadyrov's top priorities:

    WHAT DO KREMLIN CHANGES MEAN FOR CHECHNYA?

    The recent upheavals in the Kremlin, including the resignation of Aleksandr Voloshin as President Vladimir Putin's chief of staff, could portend major changes in the Kremlin's policies on Chechnya. Voloshin

    KREMLIN TRIES TO DISCREDIT HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS

    How many Chechens have disappeared in "zachistki" security sweeps by pro-Moscow or pro-Kadyrov gunmen? Abdul-Khakim Sultygov, Vladimir Putin's special representative for human rights in Chechnya, said last week that independent

    LITTLE PROGRESS IN COMPENSATION PAYMENTS

    An October 29 article by Said Bitsoev in Novye izvestia noted the excruciatingly slow rate of progress in what is supposed to be one of Putin's and Kadyrov's top priorities:

    CHECHEN SECURITY SWEEP VICTIMS STILL ALIVE?

    Many of the Chechens who have disappeared in "zachistki" security sweeps are still alive in Russian captivity, in the view of human rights activist Kheda Saratova. The head of the

    SUGGESTION THAT KREMLIN COULD OPEN TALKS WITH REBELS

    Sanobar Shermatova of Moskovskie novosti told Chechnya Weekly in an October 20 telephone interview that Russian President Vladimir Putin may decide to launch negotiations with the rebels even before Russia's

    …AS IS THE DEATH OF A SECOND

    Just as mysterious as Menkeev--and perhaps even more crucial to understanding the tragedy at the Dubrovka theater--is the figure of Ruslan Elmurzaev, alias "Abubakar." Indeed, several eyewitnesses believe that he

    ESTIMATE OF TOTAL DUBROVKA DEATH TOTAL RISES

    How many hostages did the Russian special services finally kill with the powerful gas that they used while storming the theater last October? Some independent estimates made toward the end

    KREMLIN CHALLENGED OVER DUBROVKA

    A coalition of Russian human rights organizations, led by well-known activist Lev Ponomarev, has announced that it intends to file charges with the European Court of Human Rights against the

    RUSSIAN TROOP LEVEL IN CHECHNYA TO REMAIN CONSTANT?

    Official announcements about the reduction of federal troop strength in Chechnya have repeatedly turned out to be exaggerated, and apparently that pattern is continuing. Col. Ilya Shabalkin, a spokesman attached

    MOSCOW ABANDONS ETHNIC RUSSIANS IN GROZNY

    The city of Grozny, founded as a Russian fortress nearly two centuries ago, now has only a tiny minority of ethnic Russian civilians. Unlike their Chechen neighbors, most of these

    A COLD SHOULDER FOR KADYROV

    In addition to those already mentioned in Chechnya Weekly (see the October 23 issue), Akhmad Kadyrov's October 19 inauguration included yet another blow to his prestige. Our contributor Zaindi Choltaev

    AUSHEV COMMENTS ON PROBLEMS IN CAUCASUS

    In an interview published on October 23, the former president of Ingushetia sharply questioned Akhmad Kadyrov's legitimacy. "Nothing has been changed" by Chechnya's recent presidential election, Ruslan Aushev told Andrei

    POLL HIGHLIGHTS HOSTILITY TOWARD CHECHENS

    The average Russian may be weary of the Chechen war, but that does not mean that he likes Chechens. On the contrary, a recent poll suggests that Russians now have

    ELECTION RESOLVES FEW TENSIONS IN CHECHNYA

    The purging from Chechnya's government structures of supporters of the main opposition candidates in the recent election has apparently intensified since October 5. Marina Perevozkina of Moskovsky komsomolets reported in

    RUSSIAN COMBAT DEATHS: MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS

    The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies has found that there were more Russian casualties in the past year in Chechnya than there had been in the previous year. Nevertheless,

    KADYROV IS INAUGURATED

    Akhmad Kadyrov's October 19 inauguration as Chechnya's newly "elected" president was remarkable for several symbolic gestures. These gestures, Zoya Svetova suggested in the October 20 issue of Russky kurier, might

    CONTRACT SOLDIERS ARE DISCHARGED

    The Russian army has discharged for drunkenness or disorderly behavior scores of the "kontraktniki" soldiers serving as volunteers in Chechnya, the radio station Ekho Moskvy reported on October 20. Citing

    NEW QUESTIONS RAISED ABOUT HOSTAGE TAKING

    The October 20 issue of Novaya gazeta published a detailed description of a video that casts further doubt on the official version of events that happened a year ago, when

    MASSIVE MILITARY EFFORT IN CHECHNYA IS ALLEGED

    The area in and around Chechnya has the largest troop concentrations in Europe, according to an October 20 article by Vladimir Mukhin in Nezavisimaya gazeta. This article should be treated

    CANDIDATES GEAR UP FOR PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION

    Though Chechens have barely had a chance to catch their breath since the October 5 presidential election, campaign maneuvers are already underway for the all-Russian parliamentary elections in December--which will

    MILITARY VOTING YIELDS UNEXPECTED RESULT

    Among the few surprises to come from Chechnya's election day on October 5, so far the most interesting is the revelation that the Russian troops who took part voted overwhelmingly

    MORE ELECTION IRREGULARITIES NOTED

    Evidence continues to mount that the October 5 election was massively rigged. BBC correspondent Steve Rosenberg participated in an election day tour of Chechnya that was organized and closely controlled

    KADYROV SEEKS TO BUILD ON TRIUMPH

    Clearly attempting to exploit his post-election-day momentum, Kadyrov told a Moscow press conference that all Interior Ministry troops in Chechnya should be organized under a single command--with those of the

    REFUGEES IN NO RUSH TO RETURN TO CHECHNYA

    A visit to Georgia's Pankisi Gorge by officials of the Putin and Kadyrov administrations, which occurred just before the October 5 election, produced strikingly modest results. The visitors failed to

    REPORTS SUGGEST WIDESPREAD ELECTION DAY ABUSES

    The experience of last March's referendum taught international election observers a bitter lesson: The Kremlin will use their mere presence at such a rigged affair as a seal of legitimacy,

    VOTE BRINGS FEARS OF VIOLENCE TO COME

    Officers of Moscow's special services are increasingly fearful of a bloody new civil war within Chechnya, wrote correspondent Julius Strauss of London's Daily Telegraph on October 6. According to Strauss,

    FRENCH NEWSPAPER PUBLISHES MASKHADOV INTERVIEW

    On October 4 the Paris daily Le Monde published the text of an exclusive interview with Aslan Maskhadov, president of Chechnya's underground separatist government. Maskhadov's answers came in the form

    REFUGEES FACE CONTINUING HARDSHIPS

    Russian and Ingush authorities have reached a compromise with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, enabling the former to close one of Ingushetia's five camps for Chechen refugees. According

    CHECHEN FILM FESTIVAL ENCOUNTERS OBSTACLES

    The organizers of a film festival on Chechnya have accused the Russian secret services of intimidating a movie theater in downtown Moscow into canceling its previous agreement to host the

    NO WELCOME MAT FOR KADYROV

    U.S. officials evidently gave Akhmad Kadyrov a cold reception during his recent visit to the United States as part of Russia's delegation to the United Nations. Even a September 29

    PRE-ELECTION POLLING DATA PUBLISHED

    With only days to go before Chechnya's presidential election, the polling service Validata has published the results of a survey conducted in the last week of September. The poll found

    SUMMIT GIVES PUTIN WHAT HE WANTS

    President George W. Bush's remarks at his joint press conference with Vladimir Putin closing their recent Camp David summit meeting largely gave the latter what he wanted on Chechnya. The

    RIGHTS GROUP REPORTS CONTINUING ABUSES

    Just before Vladimir Putin's and Akhmad Kadyrov's recent visit to the United States, the independent New York-based monitoring organization Human Rights Watch released a twenty-eight-page report on "Russian Abuses in

    HOSTAGE APPEAL IS POSTED

    The website Grani.ru has published a digital video received by e-mail from rebel guerrillas who are holding a civilian employee of the Kadyrov administration as a hostage. Nadezhda Pogosovaya, an

    INTELLIGENCE FLOWS TO THE REBELS

    An anonymous Russian officer gave Moscow correspondent Paul Quinn-Judge of Time magazine a vivid example of the distrust between his colleagues and the Kadyrov administration's forces, as reported in that

    PUTIN LEVELING ACCUSATIONS AT U.S. OFFICIALS?

    In a remarkably under reported statement, Russian President Vladimir Putin has apparently accused lower echelon U.S. government officials of meeting with known Chechen terrorists. On September 20, a few days

    ELECTION WITHDRAWALS CONTINUE TO PUZZLE

    Political observers are still speculating about what lay behind the Putin administration's sudden decision earlier this month to persuade or force every serious opposition candidate out of Chechnya's presidential race.

    MINOR CANDIDATES LEFT STANDING

    With the forced removal or "voluntary" withdrawal from the presidential race of Khusein Dzhabrailov, Aslambek Aslakhanov and Malik Saidullaev--the three serious rivals to the de facto incumbent Akhmad Kadyrov--and also

    CORRUPTION MARS COMPENSATION PROGRAM

    The chances of ordinary Chechens receiving anything resembling fair compensation for their homes and other property destroyed by Russian carpet bombing and other military action now appear increasingly remote. Before

    INDEPENDENT OBSERVERS TO AVOID ELECTION

    It seems increasingly likely that no credible, genuinely independent watchdogs will be present as election observers for Chechnya's rigged October 5 presidential election. The Moscow news agency Novosti put the

    WARNINGS SOUNDED OVER CHECHEN ELECTION

    According to Anna Politkovskaya, even some officials in Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) secret police are privately admitting that the likely result of Akhmad Kadyrov's now inevitable victory in Chechnya's

    NEW QUESTIONS ABOUT ROLE OF DOUBLE AGENT

    Anna Politkovskaya also continues to believe that Khanpash Terkibaev, a double agent, manipulated last October's Chechen terrorist raid in Moscow to advance the interests of the Russian secret services. She

    EXPLANATION FOR SUICIDE BOMBINGS OFFERED

    What is it that motivates Chechen women to become suicide bombers, and what might persuade them to stop? Anna Politkovskaya told Chechnya Weekly on September 15 that "it is not

    DOCTOR SPEAKS OF CHECHNYA STRUGGLES

    Dr. Khasin Baiev is a heroic Chechen physician who for years defied threats from extremists on both sides to care for federal and rebel wounded alike. At the September 16

    DISMISSAL OF MAIGOV IS DOWNPLAYED

    During one of her conversations with Chechnya Weekly in Washington, Anna Politkovskaya said that last month's firing of Salambek Maigov--he had been the separatist Maskhadov government's representative in Moscow--does not

    ELECTION LOOKS EVER LESS CREDIBLE

    In another sign that the anti-Kadyrov faction inside the Putin administration is still alive despite the heavy-handed transformation of Chechnya's election campaign into a one man race, the pro-Kremlin website

    MAGAS BLAST COULD CARRY SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES

    The September 15 suicide-bombing of the FSB headquarters in Magas, the capital of Ingushetia, produced heavier casualties outside the building than within it, apparently because the car-bomb exploded before the

    NEW BOOK ON CHECHNYA IS PUBLISHED

    Yet another new book has appeared on Chechnya, this one from a veteran Moscow correspondent for a German newspaper. Der Krieg im Schatten. Ru§land und Tschetschenien ("The War in the

    NO EVIDENCE OF CHECHENS IN AFGHANISTAN

    Have Chechen separatist guerrillas been fighting against the United States and its allies in places such as Iraq or Afghanistan--and if so, how many have been captured or killed? The

    …DZABRAILOV WITHDRAWAL STILL A MYSTERY

    Dzhabrailov still has given no clear explanation of his awkward withdrawal--even in a long radio interview he granted with Ekho Moskvy on September 4. Not surprisingly, he rejected the interpretation

    KADYROV CONSOLIDATES CONTROL OF MEDIA

    Dzhabrailov's September 2 departure from the presidential race left Bislan Gantemirov, his most prominent supporter in Grozny, in an untenable position. Gantemirov had taken the risky step of publicly endorsing

    SECRET PEACEKEEPING MISSION ENDS IN BLOODSHED

    Anna Politkovskaya is among those observers who believe that Kadyrov has not yet wrapped up his election victory and that the Kremlin is still keeping other options available. In a

    RIGHTS GROUPS DENOUNCE ELECTION

    The leaders of Russia's main human rights organizations announced on September 9 that they will not lend legitimacy to the October 5 presidential election by sending observers. Svetlana Gannushkina of

    LANDMINE DEATHS UP SHARPLY

    Landmines killed more people in Chechnya last year than in any country in the world, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines announced on September 9. Chechnya also had one of

    CANDIDATE DROPS OUT OF PRESIDENTIAL RACE

    In a surprising announcement, Khusein Dzhabrailov has withdrawn his candidacy for the presidency of Chechnya. The Moscow businessman, who had managed to win such potent endorsements as those of Bislan

    DISTRESS OVER REFUGEES INTENSIFIES

    Concerns are mounting over the humanitarian crisis in Ingushetia, triggered by continuing reports that the Russian and Ingush authorities are forcing refugees to return to Chechnya against their will. A

    FINANCING THE KADYROV CAMPAIGN

    According to journalist Anna Politkovskaya's sources in Grozny, the role of Ramzan Kadyrov in his father's administration is in some ways reminiscent of that played in the 1990s by Boris

    THREAT ALLEGEDLY DIRECTED AT SAIDULLAEV

    One of the bodyguards of presidential candidate Malik Saidullaev claims that he was kidnapped last month by the Kadyrov administration's gunmen, who then tortured him until he pretended to agree

    AMNESTY PROGRAM SAID TO BE A FAILURE

    By September 1, the final day for rebel guerrillas to surrender voluntarily under the amnesty proclaimed in June, it was abundantly clear that the amnesty program was a failure. The

    OPERATIONAL LEADERSHIP CHANGE IN CHECHNYA

    September 1 marked the final, formal transition in the leadership of federal operations against the guerrillas in Chechnya from the FSB to the Interior Ministry. Nikolai Patrushev, head of the

    STRICKEN FAMILY DEPARTS RUSSIA

    The parents and siblings of a Chechen girl murdered by a Russian tank officer have reluctantly become refugees in Norway. Fearing retaliation from ex-Colonel Yury Budanov's supporters, the Kungaev family

    WIDESPREAD DRUG USE IN CHECHNYA

    Unofficial estimates put the number of drug users in Chechnya at about 20,000, according to the August 28 Caucasus News Update of the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting

    SECURITY AGENCIES AT LOGGERHEADS OVER ELECTION?

    Writing in the August 28 issue of Novaya gazeta, Anna Politkovskaya envisioned a scenario in which rival federal security agencies might end up backing rival presidential candidates--with the FSB behind

    SOLZHENITSYN ON THE CHECHENS

    As the cycle of revenge and counter-revenge between Chechens and Russians continues to spiral downward, it is worthwhile to pause for a longer view. The greatest Russian nationalist of the

    LOSSES CONTINUE FOR FEDERAL FORCES

    A mine exploded on the outskirts of Grozny on August 21, destroying a vehicle in a federal military convoy and killing nine Russian troops, a Russian military source told Interfax

    CRISIS FOR REFUGEES IN INGUSHETIA

    Pressure against Chechen refugees in Ingushetia has intensified further in recent days, Aleksandr Podrabinek of the newspaper Russky kurier reported on August 18. Hooligans are throwing rocks at the tents

    SECOND ROUND OF VOTING NOW EXPECTED

    The election authorities were still predicting that none of the candidates would get an absolute majority of the votes on October 5, the Kremlin-controlled website Strana.ru reported on August 15--and

    KHASBULATOV DROPS OUT OF RACE

    In an August 18 article for the newspaper Russky kurier, Zoya Svetova suggested that it may be no accident that Ruslan Khasbulatov's decision to drop out of the race coincided

    MORE BAD NEWS FOR KADYROV: GANTEMIROV DEFECTS

    Zoya Svetova of Russky kurier suggested on August 18 that the election's outcome, which until recently seemed to be a guaranteed victory for Kadyrov, is now uncertain. The most shocking

    INTERNATIONAL ELECTION OBSERVERS?

    The Russian media are publishing stories claiming that about 150 international observers will monitor the October election--uncritically repeating a statement made by Anatoly Popov, the Moscow-recognized administration's prime minister and

    CHECHEN MODERATE OUSTED

    One of the most visible moderates in Aslan Maskhadov's separatist government has resigned, and at least one veteran observer of the war in Chechnya is interpreting this as a victory

    ISLAMIC EXTREMISM GROWING

    The influence of Islamic extremism is growing among the rebel guerrillas, one of the most seasoned journalists specializing in the Chechen wars has concluded from a recent visit to rebel

    BOMBING ARREST TRIGGERS PROTEST

    Two weeks after the August 1 terrorist bombing of the Mozdok military hospital, there is still only one person who has been formally arrested. He is Dr. Artur Arakelyan, the

    NO LETUP IN GUERRILLA ATTACKS

    A source in the Kadyrov administration told the Associated Press on August 16 that some fifteen federal soldiers had been killed and another forty wounded in attacks by separatist guerrillas

    FRESH CHARGES AGAINST KADYROV POLICE

    The mainstream Moscow media are intensifying their accusations that "former" rebel fighters now serving in the Kadyrov administration's police continue to cooperate with the separatist guerrillas. According an article by

    AMNESTY GENERATES SKEPTICISM

    Why have so few rebel guerrillas taken advantage of the amnesty offered by the Putin administration? The experience of one village in the southern highlands is revealing. Zulai Visingirieva, head

    STATE TELEVISION CRITICIZED

    Several leading Chechens have criticized what some call the "black P.R." of Chechen state television, which has given free reign to pro-Kadyrov propaganda while excluding critics such as Aslan Aslakhanov.

    ELECTION PLOTTING INTENSIFIES

    Will the Kremlin use Chechnya's October 5 presidential election to rid itself of the troublesome Akhmad Kadyrov? The August holiday period, often a time for behind the scenes political maneuvering

    LITTLE PROGRESS IN MOZDOK BOMBING CASE

    As of August 12, reports from the Russian authorities regarding their efforts to solve the August 1 terrorist bombing in Mozdok continued to be full of assurances--but these assurances remained

    BASAEV DESIGNATED A THREAT

    On August 8 the U.S. State Department published in the Federal Register an official determination that Shamil Basaev "has committed, or poses a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism

    SHORT SENTENCE FOR BUDANOV?

    Yury Budanov, the former Russian tank commander found guilty on July 27 of murdering a Chechen girl (see Chechnya Weekly, July 31), may go free long before the end of

    LINES BLUR IN CHECHNYA

    The August 12 issue of Izvestia includes a long, detailed interview by correspondent Vadim Rechkalov with a former rebel guerrilla who accepted the Putin-Kadyrov amnesty two months ago. Aslan Elmurzaev,

    REFUGEES FACE CONTINUED HARDSHIPS

    Nearly 800 refugees at Ingushetia's Bella camp, near the border with Chechnya, sent an open letter on August 8 to Ingush President Murat Zyazikov. In it, the refugees protested a

    HUMANITARIAN GROUP SLAMS RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

    Medecins Sans Frontieres issued a strong protest on August 12 over the lack of progress in a case involving its kidnapped volunteer--Arjan Erkel. Dr. Morten Rostrup, head of MSF, called

    GENERAL ADMITS DIFFICULTIES PERSIST…

    Major General Yury Rozhin, head of the FSB's directorate for Chechnya, told Dmitry Semenov of the Kremlin-controlled website Strana.ru in an interview published on August 12 that although he considers

    …AS ARMY UPS CONSTRUCTION TROOPS IN CHECHNYA

    The Russian authorities continue to assert that the conflict in Chechnya is being "normalized" and demilitarized; that is, they claim the conflict is being turned into a police operation rather

    CONFLICT SAID TO REFLECT LOST RUSSIAN CENTURY

    The Moscow political commentator Andrei Piontkovsky wrote in an August 8 commentary for the Politcom.ru website that "Russia Has Lost the War in Chechnya," and that "the attitude of Russian

    QUESTIONS SURROUND MOZDOK BOMBING

    Are the Russian authorities lying about the number of casualties caused by the August 1 bombing of the military hospital in Mozdok? According to the official figures, widely disseminated in

    SHELL GAME OVER CHECHEN COMMAND

    On July 29 the Russian authorities conducted a well-publicized ceremony--one that they had begun advertising months beforehand--marking the transfer of top command over the war in Chechnya from the Federal

    QUID PRO QUO?

    In an area that occupies less than 1 percent of Russia's territory, why have the federal forces not been able to track down Chechnya's separatist leaders--especially those who openly admit

    PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN HEATS UP

    Akhmad Kadyrov's least surprising announcement of recent months was the one that finally came last week: He is now officially in the running to become president of Chechnya. It was

    VILLAGERS PROTEST KIDNAPPING

    On August 2 a 16-year-old Chechen girl, Elza Katsaeva, was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in the village of Samashki. Two days later about a thousand residents of the village, mostly

    KILLING GOES ON

    A Russian marine died and two more were wounded in an August 3 firefight with rebel guerrillas, the news agency Interfax reported on August 4. The rebels ambushed the marines'

    NO CHECHENS AT GUANTANAMO BAY

    As Chechnya Weekly and others have already reported, not one Chechen is among the 600 prisoners being held by the U.S. government at its Guantanamo Bay naval base on suspicion

    RUSSIANS WANT END TO WAR

    A new opinion poll released on August 5 by the All-Russia Center for the Study of Public Opinion found that only 28 percent of Russians support continuation of the war

    EXTRADITION CASE TAKES UNEXPECTED TURN…

    Russia's secret police tortured Chechen prisoner Dukh-Bakha Dushuev to make him help fabricate a phony criminal case against a Chechen diplomat, Dushuev charged in a July 24 appearance before a

    SUICIDE BOMBINGS ORGANIZED BY MYSTERIOUS WOMAN?

    Are the suicide bombers who have been terrorizing Russia tightly organized in a unified command led by a mysterious woman known as "Black Fatima?" Russia's security agencies have been promoting

    LATEST ATTACK SUGGESTS NOT

    As if to support Politikovskaya's contention that the suicide attacks are largely uncoordinated, a female bomber mounted another strikingly amateurish attack on July 27. This one occurred at a base

    BUDANOV VERDICT ELICITS MIXED RESPONSE

    The guilty verdict pronounced last week on Yury Budanov is a gift to Akhmad Kadyrov's election campaign--but a threat to Vladimir Putin's. Human rights advocates are welcoming the verdict as

    ELECTION MANEUVERING QUICKENS

    Does Malik Saidullaev have a serious chance of becoming president of Chechnya? The Moscow-based Chechen businessman, whose personal fortune is estimated by some at US$500 million, is the first heavyweight

    ELITE COMMANDOS VENT FRUSTRATIONS

    The rebel guerrillas are still in such a strong position in Chechnya--whether from genuine popular support, or from their ability to intimidate, or from some combination of the two--that they

    COMMENTATOR SEES NO END TO CHECHEN CONFLICT

    The noted Moscow political commentator Andrei Piontkovsky offered a gloomy forecast in a July 25 round-table discussion hosted by the website Vremyamn.ru. "After the [Chechen] elections, events in Chechnya will

    MAKING ENDS MEET

    Far from disappearing, federal checkpoints in Chechnya have become an essential part of the family economy of the Russian troops who staff them. Mainat Abdulaeva, Grozny correspondent for Novaya gazeta,

    MASKHADOV REPRESENTATIVE VISITS WASHINGTON

    About 20 percent of the Kadyrov administration's gunmen are secretly loyal to the secessionist government of President Aslan Maskhadov, a key Maskhadov representative claimed during a visit to Washington last

    CHECHEN PRESIDENT ISSUES STATEMENT

    President Maskhadov of Chechnya's underground separatist government issued a statement on July 21 calling for an "adequate reaction" from the international community to his Foreign Ministry's proposal for conditional independence

    RIGHTS GROUPS TO BE SCRUTINIZED?

    Another Putin appointee called on July 22 for an investigation into the financial sources of independent human rights organizations that have criticized Putin's policies in Chechnya. In an interview with

    …ONE IS CARRIED OUT IN CHERNORECHYE

    Correspondent Ruslan Isaev of Prague Watchdog reported on July 21 that federal servicemen detained eight residents of Grozny's Chernorechnye district, including three girls, in a July 16 "zachistka." According to

    MOSCOW MAKES NO HEADWAY IN ZAKAEV EXTRADITION

    The Putin administration's effort to extradite Akhmed Zakaev--an emissary of Aslan Maskhadov--from the United Kingdom suffered another defeat this month when one of the Kremlin's principal witnesses undermined an accusation

    KADYROV RECRUITMENT DRAWS MORE ATTENTION

    It is not only the ultra-nationalist Russian media that grumble about the Kadyrov administration's recruitment of former rebel guerrillas. The newly revived Moscow newspaper Novye izvestia, a vocal defender of

    A DISSENTING VOICE

    The new head of the Chechen Republic's OMON special police hinted in an interview published by the website Utro.ru on July 21 that he does not entirely agree with the

    REFORMERS SEEK TO LEGISLATE WAR OPERATIONS

    Pro-reform deputies in the Russian parliament hope to force a debate this fall on a legislative proposal that would, as a report in Novye izvestia put it, "place the [Chechen]

    POLLING DATA REVEALS LITTLE

    In an interview published in the July 15 issue of Yezhenedelny zhurnal, director Sergei Khaikin of the research center Validata discussed the results of the center's recent polls in Chechnya,

    NONCHALANCE IN THE RUSSIAN CAPITAL

    The experience of cities such as London or Tel Aviv has shown that one can get used to terrorism. Most people go about their daily business almost as if the

    MAJOR SECURITY SWEEP LAUNCHED IN GROZNY

    Six federal servicemen were killed and eight wounded in a firefight in the Chechen highlands' Vedeno district last weekend, the news agency Interfax reported on July 21. A Russian military

    MOSCOW SETTING SIGHTS ON UKRAINE?

    Is Russia laying the groundwork for the future destabilization of Ukraine? Russian nationalists will find ample justification in a July 17 article in Izvestia, which claims that the Crimea has

    THE COST OF EDUCATION

    Students from Chechnya have to pay even higher bribes than others for admission to Russia's universities, charged a former Chechen official now living in Moscow. Ex-foreign minister Shamil Beno told

    ARE THERE CHECHENS IN IRAQ…

    Government officials in Moscow, London and Washington constantly repeat the claim that the Chechen separatist movement cooperates with global terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda. The mainstream media often repeat

    …OR AL QAEDA IN THE CAUCASUS?

    An April 26 article in the Washington Post quoted Rohan Gunaratna of St. Andrews University in Scotland as saying that after the fall of the Taliban regime, "Chechnya and the

    TORTURE REPORT SINGLES OUT GROZNY FACILITY

    If you were a Chechen who had been swept up by federal forces in one of their "zachistka" security sweeps--and if they did not simply kill you immediately--where would you

    WAR CASUALTIES ARE NEGLECTED

    In an article for the Caucasus Reporting Service of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (www.iwpr.net), Timur Aliev wrote that Chechens crippled by military action cannot always be sure

    REFUGEES HAVE LITTLE HOPE FOR FUTURE

    As both Russian and local authorities continue to pressure Chechen refugees to return home from Ingushetia, a new survey by the Caucasus Times has found that the great majority of

    KADYROV AS MEDIEVAL BARON

    Relations between Akhmad Kadyrov and the Kremlin seem ever more to be like those that existed before the rise of the modern state between a medieval baron and a royal

    QUESTIONS RAISED OVER LATEST TERRORIST ATTACK

    In what has become a familiar pattern, Russian security agencies began blaming Chechens for the latest terrorist attack in Moscow almost before the dust had settled. President Putin announced that

    INFIGHTING DOOMS FORENSICS LAB

    The Russian Defense Ministry has apparently succeeded in ridding itself of a whistle blowing forensics expert who had made himself a hero to the relatives of soldiers fighting in Chechnya.

    SECURITY SWEEPS CONTINUE

    Contradicting reports by human-rights advocates that "zachistki" security sweeps have significantly decreased this year, Chechens from the village of Gikalo, about three miles south of Grozny, launched a protest rally

    KADYROV RIDING HIGH–FOR NOW

    The Kremlin has officially announced that Sunday, October 5, has been set as the date of Chechnya's presidential election. That early date (almost as early as possible under the new

    CHECHEN JOURNALIST IS KIDNAPPED

    A Chechen journalist employed by Agence France-Presse has been kidnapped in Ingushetia. Unidentified gunmen seized Ali Astamirov on July 4 from the car of Radio Liberty journalist Aslambek Dadaev, who

    WAR CRITIC IS MOURNED

    Moscow's beleaguered human rights advocates are keeping open minds about the death on July 2 of one of their heroes, Duma member Yury Shchekochikhin. The outspoken critic of the war

    THE ARMY SPEAKS OUT…

    Since the official Kremlin line insists that Russia's military operations are succeeding in the pacification of Chechnya, it is difficult for Russia's generals to discuss candidly in public the precise

    BOOK REVIEW: TEN KEYS FOR UNDERSTANDING CHECHNYA

    Comite Tchetchenie, Tchetchenie: Dix cles pour comprendre ("Chechnya: Ten Keys for Understanding"). Paris, La Decouverte, 9 bis, rue Abel-Hovelacque, 75013 Paris (www.editionsladecouverte.fr). ISBN 2-7071-3997-1 125 pages. Price: 6.4 Euros (@US$

    VILLAGE LEADER MURDERED

    A band of unidentified attackers murdered the head of the council of elders in the village of Vashindaroi in Chechnya's Shatoi district during the night of June 26-27. They burst

    MAIGOV PLANS VISIT TO UNITED STATES

    Salambek Maigov, the official Moscow representative of the Maskhadov separatist government, plans to visit the United States in mid-July. The visit will be another in a series of foreign trips

    KADYROV SEEKS TO BECOME OIL TYCOON

    The next struggle between Akhmad Kadyrov and the federal center will be over control of Chechnya's economic resources, especially oil. On June 21 the Chechen media published Kadyrov's proposed draft

    BRUTAL DEATHS FOR THREE CHECHEN BOYS

    One of the most feared places in Chechnya is the huge Russian base at Khankala, just outside Grozny. It is feared not so much because it is the main headquarters

    ACPC DIRECTOR INTERVIEWS MAIGOV

    Despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's uncompromising rhetoric about Chechnya, observers continue to report indications that the Kremlin is keeping alive a back channel for a possible negotiated settlement with Aslan

    KHASBULATOV ASSESSES RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

    Glen Howard also met in Moscow with Ruslan Khasbulatov, who in the early 1990s held as high a position as any ethnic Chechen ever has in Russia--speaker of the Russian

    MASKHADOV-BASAEV LINK QUESTIONED

    Just what are current relations between Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basaev? On June 13 the radio station Ekho Moskvy reported on indications that the elected head of Chechnya's separatist government

    MORE ON KADYROV PERSONNEL SHAKEUP

    As the dust settles after Akhmad Kadyrov's recent shakeup of his cabinet and of local administration heads, it is increasingly clear that the surprise move was planned as part of

    RAID ON REFUGEE CAMP

    Earlier this month, Chechen residents of a refugee camp in Narzan, Ingushetia, experienced a "zachistka" security sweep of the sort more usually associated with Chechnya itself. Leila Lileva of the

    FEDERAL REINFORCEMENTS ON THE WAY

    During the period leading up to the March referendum in Chechnya, the Russian authorities repeatedly announced that they were starting to reduce the Russian military presence there. Russian television triumphantly

    AMNESTY DECREE GETS FINAL APPROVAL

    The Russian parliament gave final approval on June 6 to the Putin administration's amnesty decree, the formal text of which can be found on the website of Rossiskaya gazeta (the

    SPECULATION OVER MOZDOK BOMBING

    Of the eighteen servicemen and civilian employees of the federal air force killed by a female suicide bomber on June 5 in the southern Russian city of Mozdok, twelve were

    ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS DETAILED

    A June 5 report by Grozny journalist Liza Abdurashidova for the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting discussed the ecological damage that Chechnya has suffered during a decade of

    HAUNTING YUSHENKOV LECTURE BROADCAST

    On June 6 listeners of Radio Liberty heard a dramatic broadcast of a recording made by a now-dead member of the Russian Duma who may have been assassinated by his

    DIPLOMATIC GAINS FOR MOSCOW

    The European Union issued its flabbiest statement yet on Chechnya during last weekend's EU-Russia summit meeting in St. Petersburg. Prime Minister Costas Simitis of Greece, which currently holds the EU's

    KADYROV BID GAINS MOMENTUM

    Akhmar Zavgaev, Chechnya's representative in the upper house of the Russian parliament, has given the Kadyrov-for-president bandwagon another push. On June 2 Zavgaev told the Moscow daily Kommersant that the

    AID FUNDS DIVERTED

    The embezzlement of funds supposedly intended for the restoration of Chechnya, a practice already taken for granted by most observers, is now further testing the limits of cynicism. According to

    LOOKING FOR MASKHADOV

    Akhmad Kadyrov announced on May 31 that "a large reward" will be paid to anyone providing information leading to the capture of Aslan Maskhadov. He did not specify the source

    REBEL ACTION WARMS WITH WEATHER

    Just as the separatist rebels warned during the winter, the return of a protective cover of foliage this spring has brought with it an upsurge in the rebels' military activities.

    PUTIN AMNESTY PROPOSAL RAISES HOST OF QUESTIONS…

    Russian President Vladimir Putin's amnesty proposal, which last week received preliminary approval from the federal Duma, is intended in large part to serve the same purpose as his March constitutional

    …IMPLEMENTATION EQUALLY PROBLEMATIC

    Does Putin's proposed "procedure for implementing the decree" make things clearer? "To some extent, Yes," Memorial has answered. What the "procedural" text makes obvious is that the organs entrusted with

    TWO CHECHEN WOMEN ABDUCTED

    The Nazran office of the respected Russian human rights organization Memorial reported last week that, on May 17, a civilian woman and a teenage girl were kidnapped in the village

    KADYROV TAKES OVER SPECIAL-POLICE UNIT

    The head of Chechnya's "pro-Moscow" (a phrase that perhaps should now be used only within quotation marks) administration has taken another large step toward consolidating his personal control over the

    TERROR ATTACKS SUGGEST DISTURBING TREND

    In some few respects--indeed, fewer even than a year ago--Shamil Basaev remains a traditional Chechen rebel rather than a postmodern global terrorist. For one, he takes full, public and personal

    ANOTHER DELAY IN BUDANOV MURDER CASE…

    The Yury Budanov case continues to test the Russian judicial system's ability to bring to justice Russian servicemen accused of atrocities against Chechen civilians. The case is still proceeding at

    …ACCUSED SEEKS JURY TRIAL

    The next step, also clearly intended to take advantage of Russia's political climate, was for Dulimov to file a petition for a jury trial. (For the previous three years the

    REFUGEES RESIST RETURN

    A key official of the Kadyrov administration confirmed this week, at least in part, what international humanitarian groups and human-rights advocates have been saying for many months: Most refugees in

    …AS OTHER OBSERVERS WEIGH IN

    An article by Andrei Smirnov on a website for peace activists (https://viktorpopkov.narod.ru) described that writer's own past encounters with Terkibaev. Smirnov wrote that in March of 2002 the mysterious Chechen

    REFUGEES PRESSURED TO LEAVE INGUSHETIA

    Despite mounting pressures from both provincial and federal officials, more than 98 percent of Chechen refugee families now living in tent camps in Ingushetia do not want to return to

    DEADLY ATTACK ROCKS NORTHERN TOWN

    As of the morning of May 14, the number of confirmed dead in the May 12 truck bombing of the district-administration headquarters in the north Chechen town of Znamenskoe had

    CZECHS TO REPATRIATE REFUGEES?

    The Czech Republic is considering a plan to repatriate several hundred Chechen refugees who have entered the republic from Poland in recent months, the human rights group Prague Watchdog reported

    COMMANDOS RIP SENIOR OFFICERS

    The May 12 issue of Novaya gazeta includes a letter from anonymous servicemen of Russia's elite Alpha commando force to Yury Shchekochikhin. He is the newspaper's deputy editor and is

    SPOTLIGHT FALLS ON YET ANOTHER HOSTAGE-TAKER

    Who was the real leader of the Chechen hostage-takers who seized the Dubrovka theater last October? Most press accounts have assigned that role to Movsar Baraev, but an article in

    CANDIDATES MOOTED FOR CHECHEN PRESIDENCY

    Potential candidates for the presidency of Chechnya, together with their supporters, continue to maneuver via leaks to the press even though the date of the elections--at least six months away--has

    NO END TO KIDNAPPINGS

    Correspondent Andrei Riskin of Nezavisimaya gazeta reported on April 28 that complaints about kidnappings continue to come not only from rank-and-file Chechens, but also from members of the Kadyrov administration

    MORE JOUSTING OVER CHECHEN POLICE FORCE

    A former top official of Chechnya's Moscow-appointed administration--one of several to have lost faction fights with the head of the administration Akhmad Kadyrov--died on April 30, less than a month

    CHECHENS IN IRAQ: STILL NO CLARIFICATIONS

    Have U.S. troops captured Chechen irregulars fighting on the side of Saddam Hussein in Iraq? Vague reports to that effect have circulated in various media, but the Pentagon, the State

    REFUGEES BEING FORCED TO LEAVE INGUSHETIA?

    The number of Chechen refugees returning to their homeland from Ingushetia has grown since the March referendum, though not dramatically, the Polit.ru website reported on April 22. The authorities have

    FINDING THE MONEY TO RECONSTRUCT CHECHNYA

    Some 366.8 million rubles (about US$12.2 million) in federal subsidies to Chechnya have been spent for purposes other than those intended, the head of the Russian parliament's audit chamber announced

    PROSPECTS FOR AMNESTY QUESTIONED

    Nezavisimaya gazeta's Andrei Riskin has also expressed skepticism about the prospects for a successful amnesty. On April 21 he reported that, according the public prosecutor's office, military servicemen of the

    HUMAN COSTS OF WAR MOUNT

    The Kadyrov administration's deputy prime minister for the security agencies, Movsar Khamidov, who had already confirmed the estimate in a leaked report that forty-nine unmarked mass graves have been found

    A PLACE FOR RUSSIANS IN CHECHNYA?

    Underscoring another of the tragic dilemmas created by the Chechen wars, some leaders of the ethnic Chechen community in Moscow are calling for special measures to attract back to the

    CHECHENS IN IRAQ: NEITHER CONFIRMED NOR DENIED

    In an April 21 telephone conversation with Jamestown, the U.S. Central Command refused to confirm or deny reports in the British press that Chechens had been captured by American troops

    BUS ATTACK CONFIRMS CONTINUING HOSTILITIES

    Two unpleasant but important truths were confirmed on April 20, when a pro-separatist website broadcast a video documenting a successful April 15 attack on a bus near Grozny. The first

    YUSHENKOV MURDER LINKED TO CHECHNYA?

    Was the April 17 murder of the prominent Russian reformist legislator, Sergei Yushenkov, connected with his opposition to the Putin administration's war on Chechnya? Perhaps some deathbed confession or leak

    UN RIGHTS VOTE GOES DOWN TO DEFEAT

    The United Nations Commission on Human Rights--which this year is chaired by the delegation from Libya--on April 16 defeated a resolution criticizing the Russian government for its policies in Chechnya.

    RUSSIA CLOSING CHECKPOINTS?

    One of the crowd-pleasing gestures made by the Russian authorities just prior to the March 23 constitutional referendum was the announcement that they would begin reducing the number of checkpoints

    …AS EU, RIGHTS GROUPS, CALL FOR ACTION

    The U.S. government has decided not to co-sponsor a resolution about Chechnya at this week's meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told

    CHECHEN FIGHTERS IN IRAQ?

    In an April 12 article by one of its war correspondents in Iraq, the Times of London reports that the regime of Saddam Hussein "imported hundreds of well trained Islamic

    REPORT SAYS AMNESTY LAW DRAFTED

    Russian President Vladimir Putin's staff has already drafted legislation for an amnesty in Chechnya, the website Gazeta.ru reported on April 15. The presidential proposal will be formally introduced in the

    RUSSIAN FORCES CONTINUE TO SUFFER CASUALTIES

    Deaths and woundings from combat and mine explosions continue to be daily occurrences in Chechnya. On April 10 the Associated Press reported that six Russian troops and one police officer

    EARLY MANEUVERS IN PRESIDENTIAL RACE

    Chechnya's upcoming presidential election, like its recent referendum, will be an exercise in court politics disguised as a popular vote. From their early maneuvers it would seem that both Akhmad

    MORE STONEWALLING OF RYAZAN INCIDENT

    Russia's secret police won a court battle on April 2, one that allows them to continue covering up their role in the mysterious 1999 terrorist bombings that laid the groundwork

    NO END TO VIOLENCE IN CHECHNYA

    The constitutional referendum has not brought peace to Chechnya. Eight civilians were killed on April 3 when a passenger bus was destroyed by a remote controlled mine. The mine was

    MORE ON CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM

    Add one more to the list of independent eyewitnesses who flatly deny Russian claims of a huge turnout for Chechnya's March 23 constitutional referendum. Nathalie Nougayrede of Le Monde told

    CONFIDENTIAL REPORT FROM OSCE

    A fact-finding team from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which visited Chechnya on referendum day, found several "irregularities" in voting procedures, according to a confidential OSCE

    KADYROV INTERVIEW

    In a live interview with Akhmad Kadyrov aired on March 26, Vladimir Varfolomeyev of the radio station Ekho Moskvy made a crucial distinction--one that has rarely been made either before

    ETHNIC CHECHENS IN MOSCOW

    Police harassment of ethnic Chechens living in Moscow has significantly increased since the October hostage crisis, according to a briefing paper from Human Rights Watch. The paper, available via the

    BINDIG PERSISTS

    The Russian delegation to the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly received another reminder on March 31 that at least some members of that body will continue asking tough questions about

    SECRET POLICE CAUGHT RED-HANDED

    Moscow journalist Anna Politkovskaya has made a stunning discovery in the suburbs of Chechnya, one comparable to the 1999 scandal in which secret police of Russia's Federal Security Service (the

    REFERENDUM RESULTS

    Russia's election officials were too ambitious for their own good on March 23. If they had reported that, say, 60 percent of Chechens had turned out to vote in that

    INSTITUTE OF PEACE BRIEFING

    At a March 25 policy briefing hosted by the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, a State Department official said that the referendum would not constitute a "turning point" for

    EARLY PROGNOSTICATIONS ABOUT PRESIDENTIAL RACE

    Even before announcing the final results of the referendum, the head of Russia's Central Election Commission said on March 23 that the presidential elections in Chechnya would most likely take

    LAST MINUTE REFERENDUM MANEUVERS AND FORECASTS

    The administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin and its allies in Grozny are clearly counting on a big win in Saturday's (March 22) referendum. Putin aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky said that

    PUTIN SPEECH AND REACTIONS

    In a March 16 television speech devoted entirely to this weekend's constitutional referendum in Chechnya, President Putin hinted at new concessions to Chechen public opinion. But he did it in

    MASKHADOV FORGERY?

    Someone is trying to get Chechens to think that Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov has abruptly repudiated almost everything for which he has worked over the last decade, including independence

    HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS ARRESTED

    The Moscow activist group "For Human Rights" announced on March 14 that it had learned that Russian authorities had detained three Chechen activists at a checkpoint in Ingushetia the previous

    NEW IDEA OF HEROISM

    Russia's highest military award, the order of "Hero of Russia," has been bestowed on five people for their roles in the Dubrovka Theater hostage crisis of October 2002. But a

    INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIMES COURT FOR CHECHNYA?

    The likely resignation of Lord Frank Judd, currently serving as rapporteur for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, does not necessarily mean that Russia will now get a

    A REFERENDUM WITHOUT REGISTERED OPPOSITION

    Moscow clearly wants Western observers to monitor the March 23 constitutional referendum in Chechnya as a symbol of its legitimacy, and also for those observers to concentrate on such purely

    STATE DEPARTMENT BLACKLISTS THREE CHECHEN GROUPS

    Knowledgeable observers in both Moscow and Washington have been predicting for weeks that the U.S. State Department, under heavy lobbying from the Kremlin, would formally classify three Chechen organizations as

    CONCILIATORY GESTURES

    Political analyst Aleksei Makarkin suggested in a detailed commentary published on March 3 by the website Politcom.ru that the federal authorities are making conciliatory gestures toward the opponents of their

    NEWS BRIEFS

    --REVERSAL ON VOTING RIGHTS FOR CHECHEN REFUGEES? In an apparent reversal, the head of the Moscow-appointed Chechen government told a Grozny press conference on February 25 that only voters physically

    MAIGOV DESIGNATION CONFIRMED…

    Akhmed Zakaev, who represents Aslan Maskhadov's separatist government in Western Europe, has confirmed that Salambek Maigov is indeed also a legitimate representative of that underground government. He told a correspondent

    FEBRUARY 23, 1944

    Monday, February 24, was a day off across Russia in celebration of armed forces day, which this year fell on a Sunday. In a country that has long had compulsory

    AUSHEV INTERVIEW

    The Moscow weekly Novoye vremya (New Time) recently published a strikingly candid interview with Ruslan Aushev, former president of Ingushetia and now head of the committee for veterans' affairs of

    NEWS BRIEFS

    --KREMLIN ADMITS CONSTITUTION FLAWED. The Putin administration's in-house human rights advisers admit that its proposed constitution for Chechnya has serious flaws. Human-rights ombudsman Oleg Mironov told Radio Liberty on February

    CASUALTY FIGURES

    How many Russian soldiers have died in the current Chechen war? Russian officials issued dramatically conflicting accounts on February 17, with the Defense Ministry in Moscow contradicting figures released earlier

    NEW CHECHEN REPRESENTATIVE IN MOSCOW

    It would appear that separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov now has a new representative in Moscow. At least, Salambek Maigov's claim to have been appointed to that position on February 3

    PUTIN IN FRANCE

    Did President Jacques Chirac of France endorse the Kremlin's March 23 constitutional referendum during Vladimir Putin's recent visit to Paris? No, but the pro-Putin Russian media are trying to create

    KEY WESTERN DIPLOMAT ENDORSES REFERENDUM…

    In another major victory for its policies in Chechnya, the Putin administration has now persuaded the human-rights commissioner for the Council of Europe to endorse its controversial referendum to ratify

    …RUSSIAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST DEMURS.

    Kadyrov's concession to Gil-Robles "changes nothing," dissident member of the Russian parliament Sergei Kovalev told Jamestown in a February 13 telephone interview. He said that if one accepted the official

    BOOK REVIEW

    Matthew Evangelista, The Chechen Wars: Will Russia Go the Way of the Soviet Union? Brookings Institution Press, Washington, 2002. The key to Matthew Evangelista's new book on Chechnya is its

    ZAKAEV: WILL HE BE EXTRADITED?

    An aide to Akhmed Zakaev, vice premier of Chechnya's underground separatist government, told the Jamestown Foundation in a February 3 telephone conversation from London that Zakaev is confident the Russian

    IS MOSCOW SUBSIDIZING CHECHEN REBELS?

    Federal subsidies to Chechnya are in effect financing the separatist guerrillas, according to an article by Valery Vyzhutovich in "Moskovskie Novosti." Much of the federal aid intended for Chechnya goes

    MORE CIVILIANS KIDNAPPED

    Recent months have seen a significant change in the Russian forces' tactics in Chechnya, according to one of Russia's most respected human rights organizations. Eliza Musaeva, who heads the office

    LORD JUDD CALLS FOR POSTPONING REFERENDUM

    Lord Frank Judd, chief rapporteur for Chechnya of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), kept his counsel until returning from his recent visit to Chechnya. Before flying

    KADYROV FENDS OFF BABICH

    It would seem that Akhmad Kadyrov now has the upper hand over Mikhail Babich in the power struggle within the Moscow-appointed Chechen administration. The Itar-Tass news agency reported on January

    RUSSIAN OPINION TURNS AWAY FROM WAR

    After a surge of hawkish passions in the wake of October's hostagetaking raid on a Moscow theater, Russian public opinion has swung back to its previous pattern of favoring peace

    SUICIDE BOMBING IN GROZNY

    Easily the most important event in Chechnya since the last issue of this Weekly, published just before Christmas, took place on December 27, when three unidentified terrorists drove their bomb-laden

    RUSSIAN OFFICER ESCAPES CRIMINAL PENALTIES

    Russian prosecutors are at least trying to create the public impression that they have not given up on trying to bring to justice the only senior Russian military officer to

    PLIGHT OF CHECHEN REFUGEES

    Two members of President Putin's commission on human rights charge that "various agencies" have been trying to get them to soften the content of the report that they were preparing

    MOSCOW STILL PURSUIING ZAKAEV

    In early January the Russian government continued its efforts to extradite top Maskhadov aide Akhmed Zakaev, with Deputy General Prosecutor Sergei Fridinski stated that the British courts' review of Moscow's

    REFERENDUM SET FOR MARCH 23

    The pro-Moscow administration in Grozny has announced that voting for their proposed new constitution for the republic is set for March 23. Human rights specialists are questioning the legitimacy of

    ON BEING A CHECHEN IN MOSCOW.

    Writing in the November 11 issue of Novaya Gazeta, award-winning war correspondent Anna Politkovskaya focused on the fate of the estimated 100,000 Chechens living in Moscow in the aftermath of

    PUTIN NOT YET A DE GAULLE.

    The November 5 issue of the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung carried an article by German specialist Aleksandr Rahr (who is of Russian descent) which was translated into Russian and posted

    POWELL ADVOCATES DIALOG.

    On October 16, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell published an essay entitled "Russia and the U.S. Are Not Competing for Spheres of Influence" in one of the leading Russian

    RUSSIAN AND CHECHEN REPRESENTATIVES MEET.

    The October 16 issue of Nezavismaya Gazeta carried an article by journalist Il'ya Maksakov entitled "A Representative of Putin Has Met with the People of Maskhadov." On October 13, Maksakov

    GRANI.RU: “A CERTAIN PRIVATE ASSIGNMENT”.

    Citing a report that had appeared in the newspaper Kommersant, the website Grani.ru wrote on October 17: "In Switzerland, in approximately two weeks' time, new negotiations of a deputy of

    HIGHLIGHTS

    * Kremlin still betting on Kadyrov* Politkovskaya interviews Sergunin* Kavkaz slams Khasbulatov* "The crisis cannot be resolved without talk"* Maigov embraces Primakov's Six Points* No ties to bin Laden* Perspective:

    KVASHNIN INSPECTS CHECHNYA.

    On September 9-10, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, General of the Army Anatoly Kvashnin, conducted an inspection visit of Russian military and police checkpoints

    RYBKIN REPORTS ON SHEVARDNADZE MEETING.

    In the first week of September, Ivan Rybkin, a former speaker of the Russian State Duma and a former secretary of the Russian Security Council, traveled to Tbilisi to discuss

    WEARY OF WAR.

    In an interview appearing in the no. 31 (September 13-20) issue of the weekly Vek, retired MVD General Aslambek Aslakhanov, the elected deputy from Chechnya to the Russian State Duma,

    CONDITIONS AT HOME.

    The September 3 issue of the weekly Ezhenedel'nyi Zhurnal carried a report by journalist Evgeny Pakhomov entitled "Deportation to One's Home," which sums up his observations made during a recent

    HIGHLIGHTS

    * Russia's citizens weigh in* The Chechen factor* Did Itum-Kale incident happen?* Moscow happy to conduct special operaton* Washington backs Georgia* Choosing between evils* Nothing has changed* Budanov witness admits

    CHECHENS REVAMP THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT.

    On July 23, the newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported that an expanded session of the State Defense Committee of Ichkeria had been held in the Vedeno District of Chechnya during late

    KEY TO PEACE PLAN IS “SPECIAL STATUS”.

    The July 16 issue of Moskovskie Novosti contains an interview by the well-known journalist Sanobar Shermatova with Professor Ruslan Khasbulatov, a former speaker of the Russian parliament and an ethnic

    DEMAND FOR RE-ARREST OF SERGEI LAPIN.

    Writing in the July 8 (no. 48) issue of Novaya Gazeta, the editors of the twice-weekly pro-democracy publication reported: "They have released from prison one of the most cruel of

    SAD SITUATION FOR RETURNING REFUGEES.

    What conditions await the returning IDPs in Chechnya? Reporting on a recent visit to the Chechen capital, correspondent Jens Hartmann of Die Welt wrote: "The [pro-Moscow] Chechen government is separated

    NOVAYA GAZETA MUZZLED? “

    The property of Novaya Gazeta is under arrest," the website NTV.ru reported on June 7. Bailiffs from the Basmannyi Court in Moscow have begun to "conduct an inventory of [the

    KHATTAB’S ALLEGED ASSASSIN REPORTEDLY EXECUTED.

    Chechen rebels have reportedly executed the person allegedly responsible for assassinating Khattab, the Saudi-born Chechen rebel field commander. Kavkaz.org, the website connected to the radical Islamist wing of the Chechen

    KHATTAB: DEAD OR ALIVE? “

    Where is Khattab's head?" the publication Mir Novostei recently asked insistently. "Judging by public opinion polls," the publication went on, "less than a third of Russians believe in the death

    RESTORATION FUNDS STILL GOING MISSING.

    Over the past week and a half, there have been indications that federal funds intended for the restoration of Chechnya have, as before, been disappearing into a bottomless "black hole."

    MOLTENSKOI ISSUES NEW GUIDELINES FOR “ZACHISTKI.”

    The commander of Russian forces in Chechnya, Lieutenant General Vladimir Moltenskoi, has signed an order specifying new rules for carrying out special antiguerrilla operations in the breakaway republic. Such operations

    THE LONG MARCH….

    On the home front, President Vladimir Putin moved another step forward in his gradual but seemingly inexorable march through the key institutions of the Russian state. He replaced Central Bank

    DEMOCRATS CALL RUSSIA A “MANAGED DEMOCRACY”.

    The fact that Boris Berezovsky chose March 5 to hold his London press conference putting forwards his charges concerning alleged FSB involvement in the apartment building bombings was not accidental.

    …AND IS DENOUNCED BY LEADING DUMA MEMBERS.

    The report that international war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte had met with Akhmed Zakaev, emissary of Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov, provoked an almost immediate reaction from a number

    BEREZOVSKY PROMISES TO TELL ALL ON MARCH 5.

    Boris Berezovsky and Russia's law enforcement agencies continued their tit-for-tat battle yesterday. The press service of the Liberal Russia movement, which Berezovsky belongs to and finances, announced that on March

    FSB DIRECTOR VISITS CHECHEN CAPITAL.

    On December 19, FSB director Nikolai Patrushev paid an unannounced visit to the Chechen capital, where he took part in a meeting of the pro-Moscow Chechen FSB in which the

    POLITKOVSKAYA RETURNS TO RUSSIA.

    The well-known award-winning Russian war correspondent Anna Politkovskaya has returned to Russia after being ordered by her editors to take refuge abroad for several months in the face of serious

    …AS WELL AS IN THE REGIONS.

    Contract killings, of course, are not confined to Moscow, and incidents in other cities suggest that business throughout Russia remains highly criminalized. On November 28, Vladimir Zubov, head of the

    RUSSIA-NATO TALKS: IN VETO VERITAS?

    The mutual courtship dance of Russia and NATO, which began in earnest during the recent Russian-U.S. summit meeting in Washington and Texas, picked up additional speed last week when NATO

    …GROWTH CONTINUES IN THIRD QUARTER.

    The numbers on economic performance from the State Statistical Committee Goskomstat indicate that Russia's economic growth accelerated in the third quarter of 2001 despite weaker growth in exports (Goskomstat, October

    BASAEV DECLARES SUPPORT FOR THE TALIBAN.

    Chechen rebel field commander Shamil Basaev has responded to U.S. President George W. Bush's call last week that the Chechen rebels break their alleged ties with Saudi-born terrorist Osama bin

    CHECHEN REBELS RAID ACHKOI-MARTAN.

    Chechen rebels raided the town of Achkoi-Martan late yesterday (October 7). The attacking force--consisting, according to one report, of several hundred rebel fighters, according to another, several dozen--reportedly entered Achkoi-Martan

    REBELS ATTACK MORE CHECHEN TOWNS.

    The situation in Chechnya has considerably worsened following the passing of President Vladimir Putin's seventy-two-hour deadline for rebels to lay down their arms. The rebel leadership, perhaps operating on the

    RUSSIAN-IRANIAN ARMS TALKS RESCHEDULED.

    Russia has remained a key player over the past few days in the intense diplomatic maneuvering that has accompanied the Bush administration's efforts to construct an international antiterrorist coalition. But

    DEADLINE FOR CHECHEN REBELS EXPIRES TODAY.

    The seventy-two-hour deadline President Vladimir Putin gave Chechen rebels to lay down their arms is set to expire at 9 pm this evening, local time. There are few signs that

    WESTERN LEADERS RE-EVALUATE THEIR STANCE ON CHECHEN WAR.

    President Vladimir Putin's declaration of support for the U.S.-led campaign is clearly causing some Western leaders to re-evaluate their governments' stance vis-a-vis Russia's military campaign in Chechnya. Both German Chancellor

    SECURITY HEIGHTENED THROUGHOUT CHECHNYA.

    In the wake of the September 17 rebel attack on the cities of Gudermes and Argun, along with the downing of a military helicopter over Djohar (Grozny), the Chechen capital,

    NO END TO SPY CASE AGAINST RUSSIAN DIPLOMAT.

    Roughly three years after he was first jailed on what human rights advocates have claimed are trumped up espionage charges, a former senior Russian diplomat's criminal case is yet to

    RUSSIA STEPS UP ARMS EXPORT EFFORTS.

    A trio of recent developments has put the practices and prospects of Russia's arms exports back in the spotlight. These include the publication earlier this month of a U.S. congressional

    DID FSB BOMB PASSAGEWAY BENEATH PUSHKIN SQUARE?

    In their new book, former FSB officer Aleksandr Litvinenko and historian Yury Felshtinsky also assert that the Russian security services were behind the apartment building bombings in Moscow and several

    RUSSIAN-U.S. ARMS TALKS BOG DOWN.

    Hopes of a possible Russian-U.S. missile defense agreement, raised by a pair of friendly summit meetings between the Russian and U.S. presidents earlier this summer, have been left largely frustrated

    PRICE-SETTING AGENCY ESTABLISHED.

    In recent weeks, Russia has pushed forward with several important economic reforms, establishing a unified price-setting agency and passing legislation to protect minority shareholders and simplify the registration of new

    WASHINGTON PRAISES RUSSIAN-NORTH KOREAN TALKS.

    On Monday, in yet another reflection of the Bush administration's intensifying efforts to woo Moscow, the U.S. State Department hailed what it described as the Kremlin's effort to encourage dialogue

    …ANGRILY DEFENDS HIS CHECHEN POLICY.

    Vladimir Putin's press conference yesterday (July 18) also touched on more controversial themes. A BBC correspondent, for example, asked the Russian president about an "information security doctrine" promulgated by the

    PUTIN TACKLES THE BILATERAL TREATIES.

    On July 26, President Vladimir Putin created a new commission to make relations between the federal center and the regions more equal and transparent (Russian agencies, June 29). The twenty-two-member

    PACE OF RUSSIAN ARMY PERSONNEL CUTS TO PICK UP.

    After an initial flurry of headlines on the subject of Russian military reform that followed the appointment of President Vladimir Putin's close advisor, Sergei Ivanov, to the post of defense

    SHAKING THE DICE IN ASIA.

    Whether the Indian government's seemingly contradictory position on missile defense and the ABM treaty is sustainable or not remains to be seen, however. The government's sudden shift toward Washington provoked

    SWISS PROSECUTORS SUMMON BORODIN FOR QUESTIONING.

    Pavel Borodin, the Russia-Belarus union state secretary and former Kremlin property manager, has been asked to appear in Switzerland on May 17 for questioning concerning charges of money laundering in

    GROZNY RESTORED AS CHECHEN CAPITAL.

    On April 18, the city of Grozny (Djohar) was officially declared to be once again the capital of the Chechen Republic (Kommersant, April 19). Five days later, on April 23,

    SPAIN REFUSES TO EXTRADITE GUSINSKY.

    Vladimir Gusinsky finally won one yesterday, when a Spanish judicial panel voted 2 to 1 to reject a request from the Russian Prosecutor General's Office that he be extradited to

    GAZPROM-APPOINTED MANAGERS TAKE OVER NTV.

    The two-week-old standoff between Gazprom, the 38-percent state-owned gas monopoly, and NTV television reached its denouement this weekend, when the channel's new Gazprom-appointed managers took over its offices and studios

    JOURNALISTS CONTINUE TO RESIST TAKEOVER.

    At the same time, members of NTV's team of journalists, which initially maintained solidarity in denouncing the Gazprom takeover as illegal and vowing to resist it, continued to jump ship

    THOUSANDS DEMONSTRATE IN SUPPORT OF NTV.

    The battle of words between NTV and Gazprom-Media has been joined by supporters of both sides. The weekend saw demonstrations in support of the embattled television channel in a number

    POOR SHOWING IN DUMA, NO-CONFIDENCE VOTE FAILS.

    The vote of no confidence in the government of Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, which the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) initiated last month, went down to defeat today

    IN THE FEDERATION

    Let a thousand flowers bloom... "I am not embarrassed by the word 'propaganda.'" With that tasteless phrase Press Minister Mikhail Lesin said Russia will spend heavily on advertising to improve

    PUTIN MEETS WITH NTV JOURNALISTS.

    President Vladimir Putin met yesterday with eleven journalists from NTV, the television channel of Vladimir Gusinsky's embattled Media-Most group. Yesterday's meeting came to pass after one NTV journalist, Svetlana Sorokina,

    THE HEAD OF STATE MEETS THE OLIGARCHS…

    President Vladimir Putin met yesterday in the Kremlin with twenty-one leading oligarchs, his second such with representatives of Russian big business. The first was held last July, in the midst

    PUTIN SIGNS DECREE EMPOWERING KADYROV.

    On January 18, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on a system of executive organs for Chechnya which basically provides the republic's administration with real power, not the vague authority

    ENERGY CRISIS…. A

    number of Russia's regions continued to suffer as a result of a lethal combination of extremely cold weather, rotting infrastructure, a distorted energy market and the traditional mix of bureaucratic

    LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL….

    At the same time, polling data indicated that while Putin's overall popularity remained high, support was softening for a number of his policies, including the "antiterrorist" campaign in Chechnya, which

    MOSCOW TAX INSPECTORATE SUES TO BANKRUPT MEDIA-MOST.

    In November, when Deputy Prosecutor General Vasily Kolmogorov accused Media-Most of having taken on debts worth more than its total assets and summoned the holding's founder, Vladimir Gusinsky, for questioning

    RUSSIAN OLIGARCHS BACK IN THE CROSS-HAIRS

    President Vladimir Putin (or at least his law enforcement agencies) struck new blows this past fortnight against the Russian leader's main foes from the ancien regime--the oligarchs Vladimir Gusinsky and

    SPANISH POLICE ARREST GUSINSKY.

    Spanish police arrested Media-Most chief Vladimir Gusinsky at his home in the resort town of Sotogrande on Spain's Costa del Sol early yesterday. Gusinsky was arrested on the basis of

    CAR BOMB KILLS TWENTY-ONE IN ALKHAN-YURT…

    The past week saw an unprecedented number of terrorist attacks in the North Caucasus. It appears that Chechen rebels carried out these attacks as a means of demonstrating to the

    INTERIOR MINISTRY SLATED FOR RESTRUCTURING.

    The Interior Ministry (MVD) is reportedly set to undergo a restructuring which will likely take its sub-units out of the hands of regional leaders and possibly bring the ministry under

    GUUAM ECLIPSING THE CIS ON THE EVE OF SUMMIT

    In advance of the December 1 summit in Minsk of the CIS, the pro-Western GUUAM countries--Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova--are acting as a group outside the CIS to protect

    LUKASHENKA EARNING MOSCOW’S REWARDS

    A grumbling but loyal ally, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka of Belarus is quietly collecting his rewards from the Kremlin. Russian President Vladimir Putin seems clearly more willing than his predecessor Boris

    GUUAM TAKING SHAPE OUTSIDE THE CIS

    Ahead of a planned summit in Kyiv which is expected to institutionalize GUUAM, its five member countries--Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova--are taking collective steps to assert their association's presence

    BEREZOVSKY NO-SHOWS FOR HIS MEETING WITH PROSECUTORS.

    Boris Berezovsky has apparently joined his fellow media magnate and erstwhile archrival, Media-Most chief Vladimir Gusinsky, in political exile. Berezovsky, who was set to appear today at the Prosecutor General's

    UZBEKISTAN’S STATISTICAL METHODOLOGY MISLEADING.

    According to Uzbekistan's Department of Statistics, the country's GDP grew 3.8 percent in the first half of 2000 as agricultural and industrial output rose 7.1 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively.

    ARREST WARRANT ISSUED FOR VLADIMIR GUSINSKY.

    The Prosecutor General's Office announced today that it has issued an arrest warrant for Media-Most chief Vladimir Gusinsky and put him on its list of wanted fugitives. Investigator Valery Nikolaev

    RUSSIA REACTS TO THE U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

    Russia's top government officials, politicians, analysts and media reacted yesterday to the photo finish in the U.S. presidential vote and the likelihood of a George W. Bush presidency. President Vladimir

    BORODIN SAYS HE WILL SUE HIS ACCUSERS.

    Pavel Borodin, the former Kremlin "property manager" who is now state secretary of the Russia-Belarus Union, has said that he plans to sue both the investigators from the Russian Prosecutor

    RUTSKOI’S PROBLEMS IN KURSK BEGAN EARLY.

    Aleksandr Rutskoi is no ordinary Russian governor. An air force general, hero of the Afghan War and President Boris Yeltsin's first and last vice president, in October 1993 Rutskoi and

    GUUAM LOOKS TO INSTITUTIONALIZATION AND ENLARGEMENT

    While Russia redoubles its efforts to assemble five other CIS countries into a Moscow-led military, political and economic bloc, an equivalent number of countries are distancing themselves from the Russian

    KREMLIN REPORTEDLY PLANS TO BUILD COMPLEXES ON RED SQUARE.

    Kremlin "property manager" Vladimir Kozhin says that the presidential administration is ready to discuss privatizing the lion's share of its multibillion-dollar property empire. Speaking to the U.S.-Russia Investment Symposium (which

    RUSSIA EXTENDS MABETEX INVESTIGATION.

    Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has extended its investigation in to the so-called Mabetex case, involving allegations that top Russian officials, including former Kremlin "property manager" Pavel Borodin, received kickbacks from

    MEDIA TOUTS A NEW OLIGARCH.

    Oligarch-watching is one of the Russian media's favorite pastimes, and the press has recently discovered a "new" tycoon whose political influence is reportedly greatly increasing. The new rising star is

    GUSINSKY AGAIN SUMMONED FOR QUESTIONING.

    Media-Most founder and owner Vladimir Gusinsky has been summoned to appear again at the Prosecutor General's Office. The summons, which was issued yesterday, ordered the media magnate to appear for

    IN THE FEDERATION

    Dealing with the oligarchs is a central test of Vladimir Putin's presidency. He came to office vowing to "eliminate [the oligarchs] as a class." He promised a "dictatorship of the

    ISLAMIC INSURGENCY IN CENTRAL ASIA

    Uzbek and Kyrgyz government forces continued this past fortnight to battle the Islamist guerrillas which had penetrated both countries from Tajikistan in early August. The guerrillas are affiliated with the

    RUSSIAN FEDERATION

    Even in Russia's relatively closed society, you would have to be a flag-rank officer or a minister of state not to be aware that the armed forces are decrepit and

    FIRE DESTROYS OSTANKINO TELEVISION TOWER.

    Just days after the tragic sinking of the submarine Kursk, Russia was once again hit by disaster. Yesterday the Ostankino television tower in northern Moscow--at more than 540 meters high

    SOME PREDICT IVANOV WILL REPLACE KASYANOV.

    A collateral effect of the Pushkin Square bombing is that it may have increased the likelihood Mikhail Kasyanov will be removed as prime minister and replaced by the Security Council's

    NAZARBAEV SETTLES INTO LIFETIME POLITICAL ROLE

    On July 21, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev's office announced that he had signed the law adopted on June 27 by the parliament, conferring a lifetime political role on Nazarbaev. The

    …BUT THE EARTH FAILS TO MOVE.

    Despite the good intentions which the tycoons and the Kremlin declared during and after their July 28 meeting, and the various optimistic assessments of the meeting, it is not clear

    GUSINSKY ALLOWED TO TRAVEL TO SPAIN.

    Media-Most founder and head Vladimir Gusinsky flew to Spain to visit his family today after the Prosecutor General's Office dropped its conditions that Gusinsky, who is under investigation for allegedly

    PUTIN AND OLIGARCHS SET TO MEET TOMORROW.

    President Vladimir Putin is set to meet tomorrow with eighteen of Russia's leading oligarchs as part of an attempt to smooth relations between the authorities and the tycoons, many of

    CHECHEN REBELS STEP UP ATTACKS.

    General Valery Manilov, first deputy head of the Russian armed forces' general staff, said yesterday that the Chechen rebel forces became significantly more active this past week. Sixty-three shooting incidents.

    LET ME KNOW IF YOU NEED MORE

    Sections 1-2-3 (Foreign Policy Concept)Unfortunately, the new Foreign Policy Concept appears to share, along with the other two documents, a blurring of priorities and an absence of conciseness which suggests

    MEDIA-MOST HEADQUARTERS SEARCHED ONCE AGAIN…

    Investigators from the Prosecutor General's Office and Federal Security Service (FSB) seized documents yesterday from the offices of Vladimir Gusinsky's Media-Most group in central Moscow and from the offices of

    UKRAINE-NATO: LARGEST JOINT EXERCISE

    From June 19 to July 1, Ukraine hosted the largest exercise ever conducted by NATO forces in a post-Soviet country. The naval, air and amphibious exercise Cooperative Partner-2000, in the

    GEORGIA ALSO INCHING TOWARD NATO

    From June 16 to June 21, Georgia hosted for the first time a joint exercise with troops of a NATO country. Some sixty U.S. Army medical personnel and 100 Georgian

    MOSCOW’S CIS POLICY IN KGB VETERANS’ HANDS

    On June 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin elevated Vyacheslav Trubnikov to a specially created post as overseer of Moscow's CIS policy. Trubnikov will be First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs,

    ANTITERRORISM CENTER REMAINS ELUSIVE

    Creation of a CIS Antiterrorism Center topped Russia's agenda at the June 19-21 CIS summit. The result fell short of Moscow's expectations. Member countries differed over the proposed center's functions,

    SWISS CHARGE MABETEX HEAD WITH BRIBING RUSSIAN OFFICIALS.

    Swiss prosecutors have formally charged Bahgjet Pacolli, head of the Swiss construction-engineering firm Mabetex with paying bribes to Russian officials for lucrative contracts to refurbish government buildings. While Daniel Devaud,

    MOLDOVA: ONE STEP FORWARD, THREE STEPS BACK

    On June 16-17, Russian President Vladimir Putin paid a "working visit" to Moldova--the first by a Russian president since 1991. The visit aimed to recoup at least part of the

    KADYROV REFUSES TO ATTEND SWEARING-IN CEREMONY.

    Akhmed Kadyrov's swearing-in as head of Chechnya's provisional administration has again been postponed. Kadyrov reportedly refused to attend the ceremony in the town of Gudermes marking his accession to the

    REACTION TO GUSINSKY’S ARREST GENERALLY NEGATIVE.

    The reaction to Vladimir Gusinsky's arrest was for the most part negative and critical. Even Boris Berezovsky--tycoon, leading "Family" member and long-time Gusinsky rival and foe--said that he disapproved of

    GANTEMIROV FIRING SUITS KREMLIN’S PURPOSES.

    On May 30, Nikolai Koshman, the Russian government's representative in Chechnya, fired his deputy, Bislan Gantemirov, for systematically not appearing for work and other violations of discipline (Russian agencies, May

    UIGHUR PROBLEM RESURFACES IN CENTRAL ASIA

    On May 8, Kyrgyzstan announced that a court in the city of Osh had just sentenced five men to various terms of imprisonment for "terrorism" and conspiracy to create a

    …LOSES FIGHT OVER TELEVISION.

    Also on March 14, Armenian National Television Director Tigran Naghdalian announced that he has submitted his resignation. National TV has until now been one of President Robert Kocharian's few remaining

    ARMENIA, BELARUS ESTABLISH MILITARY LINKS

    Armenia's Defense Minister, Lieutenant-General Vagharshak Harutiunian, on February 8-10 paid a landmark visit to Belarus during which he and his counterpart, Colonel-General Aleksandr Chumakov, discussed a plan for "strategic and

    TURKMEN GAS EXPORTS CONTINUE TO STOP AND START.

    Despite ambitious plans for natural gas exports in 1999, actual results for the year have been disappointing for the Turkmen authorities (PlanEcon Energy Report, January 2000). In the first half

    RADIO LIBERTY JOURNALIST STILL MISSING.

    The case of Radio Liberty correspondent Andrei Babitsky is becoming more sinister and Kafka-esque with each passing day. Babitsky was detained in Chechnya in mid-January and then putatively handed over

    LIFE GETTING BETTER IN KAZAKHSTAN.

    In 1998, Kazakh GDP fell 2.5 percent despite rising GDP in the first half of the year. The aftereffects of the Russian financial crisis and a terrible harvest derailed the

    INVESTIGATOR SAYS BEREZOVSKY MAY SOON BE CHARGED.

    The Swiss and Russian law enforcement authorities are not only zeroing in on Pavel Borodin, the long-time associate of Boris Yeltsin who until recently controlled the Kremlin's property department. Another

    …AND IN THE MOUNTAINS OF THE BREAKAWAY REPUBLIC.

    Heavy fighting is also continuing in Chechnya's mountainous regions. On January 23, the Russian forces carried out some 100 combat missions. Meanwhile General Viktor Kazantsev, the commander of the Russian

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    RUSSIAN POLITICS: PRIME MINISTERS EVERYWHERE Most of the political news in Russia this past fortnight involved the activities of former prime ministers--hardly a surprise, given the degree to which they've

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    RUSSIAN POLITICS: PRIME MINISTERS EVERYWHERE Most of the political news in Russia this past fortnight involved the activities of former prime ministers--hardly a surprise, given the degree to which they've

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    SPECULATING ON RUSSIA'S POLITICAL FUTURE In Russia, the fortnight began amid frenzied speculation over President Boris Yeltsin's rumored plans either to remain in power after the June 2000 presidential vote

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    SPECULATING ON RUSSIA'S POLITICAL FUTURE In Russia, the fortnight began amid frenzied speculation over President Boris Yeltsin's rumored plans either to remain in power after the June 2000 presidential vote

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    RUSSIA'S NEW GOVERNMENT: MORE KREMLIN SHENANIGANS The dust has hardly settled from either the months-long battle to oust former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov or the State Duma's attempt to impeach

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    RUSSIA'S NEW GOVERNMENT: MORE KREMLIN SHENANIGANS The dust has hardly settled from either the months-long battle to oust former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov or the State Duma's attempt to impeach

    LEFTISTS ATTACK GOVERNMENT.

    Ukrainian Speaker Oleksandr Tkachenko, recently nominated for president, has apparently launched a serious offensive against the government of his major rival, President Leonid Kuchma, in an attempt to shatter his

    WHO EXACTLY IS SERGEI STEPASHIN?

    By Brian Whitmore An enigmatic figure, Russia's new prime minister has displayed various contradictory faces in his brief and meteoric political career. A tough-talking law enforcement officer, in the early

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    RUSSIA GETS A NEW PRIME MINISTER President Boris Yeltsin's dismissal of Yevgeny Primakov on May 12 was hardly a bolt out of the blue. For weeks--even months--Russia's media had been

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    RUSSIA GETS A NEW PRIME MINISTER President Boris Yeltsin's dismissal of Yevgeny Primakov on May 12 was hardly a bolt out of the blue. For weeks--even months--Russia's media had been

    AFTER AUGUST 17, 1998

    The assessments and evaluations of Russians cited above were obtained during a period of relative financial stability and of hope that economic growth would begin. After August 17, 1998 it

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    FROM GUAM TO GUUAM: A GROWING CENTRIFUGAL FORCE IN THE CIS "GUAM," the four-country group of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova, has welcomed a fifth member country--Uzbekistan--thereby extending into Asia.

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    FROM GUAM TO GUUAM: A GROWING CENTRIFUGAL FORCE IN THE CIS "GUAM," the four-country group of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova, has welcomed a fifth member country--Uzbekistan--thereby extending into Asia.

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    RUSSIA: POLITICS AS USUAL The fortnight in Russian politics was, as usual, enough to make the spectator seasick. It began with President Boris Yeltsin mounting one of his time-honored comebacks

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    RUSSIA: POLITICS AS USUAL The fortnight in Russian politics was, as usual, enough to make the spectator seasick. It began with President Boris Yeltsin mounting one of his time-honored comebacks

    CHERNOMYRDIN IN BELGRADE.

    Former Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin--now serving as the Kremlin's special envoy for the Kosovo crisis-- arrived in Belgrade today. "We came with concrete proposals to stop the Yugoslav tragedy. The

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    FUROR IN MOSCOW OVER BALKAN CONFLICT The Kosovo crisis continued to dominate Russian diplomacy over the past fortnight, as Moscow maintained both its furious criticism of NATO air attacks on

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    FUROR IN MOSCOW OVER BALKAN CONFLICT The Kosovo crisis continued to dominate Russian diplomacy over the past fortnight, as Moscow maintained both its furious criticism of NATO air attacks on

    AZERBAIJAN….

    On March 19, a giant Russian AN-124 transport plane en route from Kazakhstan stopped at Baku for refueling. An everyday occurrence--except this plane was carrying six disassembled MiG-21 fighter aircraft

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    POLITICAL MAYHEM IN MOSCOW While NATO air strikes have in recent days dominated headlines around the world (see below), the events in the former Yugoslavia come on the heels of

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    POLITICAL MAYHEM IN MOSCOW While NATO air strikes have in recent days dominated headlines around the world (see below), the events in the former Yugoslavia come on the heels of

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    Another unseemly round of political infighting erupted in Russia over the past fortnight as the contest between the country's president and prime minister increased in intensity. One victim of that

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    Another unseemly round of political infighting erupted in Russia over the past fortnight as the contest between the country's president and prime minister increased in intensity. One victim of that

    YUGOSLAV CRISIS DISCUSSED IN MOSCOW.

    The Kosovo crisis, meanwhile, was a major topic of discussion during yesterday's talks in Moscow between Russian government leaders and their counterparts from both the European Union and Germany. Following

    A CITY SAVED BY A RIGHTEOUS MAN

    By Andrei Piontkovsky Of all my fellow journalists, the one I least want to take issue with is the brilliant Yulia Kalinina, who publishes her thoughts in "Moskovsky komsomolets" every

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    Moscow appeared afflicted over the past fortnight by the ancient Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times." At home, Russia's domestic political scene descended into a bizarre and unseemly

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    Moscow appeared afflicted over the past fortnight by the ancient Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times." At home, Russia's domestic political scene descended into a bizarre and unseemly

    YELTSIN STOPS PLANNED REFERENDUM IN INGUSHETIA.

    A referendum which Ingushetian President Ruslan Aushev called for February 28 may not take place. Boris Yeltsin has declared a decree Aushev signed invalid. The decree would have asked the

    ARMED GROUPS SEIZE OIL WELLS IN CHECHNYA.

    On January 29 armed groups in Chechnya seized two more oil wells in the republic. According to the state oil company "Chechentransneft," 14,000 tons of oil have been stolen from

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    Russia's political turmoil continued over the past fortnight, as President Boris Yeltsin's enduring health problems precipitated what appeared to be conflict between the Kremlin and Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov. But

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    Russia's political turmoil continued over the past fortnight, as President Boris Yeltsin's enduring health problems precipitated what appeared to be conflict between the Kremlin and Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov. But

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    Russia's political crisis worsened over the past fortnight as few took seriously a new initiative by the Kremlin ostensibly aimed at battling crime, corruption and political extremism. There was also

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    Russia's political crisis worsened over the past fortnight as few took seriously a new initiative by the Kremlin ostensibly aimed at battling crime, corruption and political extremism. There was also

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    Russia's domestic struggles continued over the past fortnight as a fleeting visit to the Kremlin by Boris Yeltsin produced yet another shakeup of the presidential administration. Neither the personnel reshuffle

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    Russia's domestic struggles continued over the past fortnight as a fleeting visit to the Kremlin by Boris Yeltsin produced yet another shakeup of the presidential administration. Neither the personnel reshuffle

    IMF DELEGATION LEAVES MOSCOW DISSATISFIED.

    A delegation from the IMF left Moscow on Tuesday (November 24), reportedly very unsatisfied with the "anticrisis" economic measures which the government of Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov is carrying out.

    PRESS BLASTS GOVERNMENT INACTION IN THE FACE OF CRIME.

    In further reaction to the murder last Friday (November 20) of Democratic Russia leader Galina Starovoitova, Russian newspapers today blasted the government, and particularly President Yeltsin, for their inability to

    RECRIMINATIONS….

    Of course there is plenty of blame to go around for Russia's woeful condition, and the political elite is not so much dishing it out as hurling it around, like

    RECRIMINATIONS….

    Of course there is plenty of blame to go around for Russia's woeful condition, and the political elite is not so much dishing it out as hurling it around, like

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    Russia's budget battles continued over the last two weeks, but the high-stakes contest over economic policy was in some regards overshadowed by an unseemly display of anti-Semitism in Russian public

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    Russia's budget battles continued over the last two weeks, but the high-stakes contest over economic policy was in some regards overshadowed by an unseemly display of anti-Semitism in Russian public

    MORE HIGH-LEVEL ARRESTS TO COME?

    Perhaps even more compelling than Koshel's arrest was a report yesterday by Russian agencies that officials of the Prosecutor General's Office last Monday (November 2) seized databases of the Moscow

    …AND CONTINUES TO TAKE HEAT FOR IT.

    The Yabloko letter claimed that First Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Maslyukov illegally granted Vimpelcom--the company running one of Russia's largest mobile telephone networks--the right to operate an additional mobile telephone

    THE ANTI-LUZHKOV CAMPAIGN CONTINUES. “

    Itogi" gave a chunk of its airtime over to several strong critics of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, a likely presidential contender who wants to create a "centrist" political coalition. Last

    ON THE QUESTION OF RUSSIAN MILITARY DEVELOPMENT

    By Stan Lunev An extremely difficult situation has developed in Russia's armed forces, which, according to Russian legislation, includes not just soldiers in the regular army but also those serving

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    Russia finally got a new government, but there was little optimism that its partial return to Soviet era policies could lift the country from its current economic crisis. Russia's assertiveness

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    Russia finally got a new government, but there was little optimism that its partial return to Soviet era policies could lift the country from its current economic crisis. Russia's assertiveness

    DISCORDANT VOICES.

    To persuade the IMF, World Bank and Western governments to release more funds on the basis that tougher domestic policies will soon be undertaken is to ask for yet another

    REGIONS GET GREATER VOICE IN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

    President Boris Yeltsin has created a presidium or "inner cabinet" of top government ministers and the heads of Russia's eight regional economic associations. Clearly alarmed by the independent actions taken

    DUBININ DENIES THAT IMF LOANS WERE MISUSED.

    The former chairman of Russia's Central Bank, Sergei Dubinin, has denied allegations that loans provided by the IMF were embezzled or wasted. Last week, Russia's prosecutor general opened a criminal

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    CHECHNYA CASTS A LONG SHADOW Russia's tortured relations with Chechnya formed the backdrop against which the main events of the past fortnight were played out. On August 1, Prime Minister

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    CHECHNYA CASTS A LONG SHADOW Russia's tortured relations with Chechnya formed the backdrop against which the main events of the past fortnight were played out. On August 1, Prime Minister

    COMMUNIST S SPLIT ON MASLYUKOV’S CABINET POST.

    Confusion continues over the appointment of Communist Party member Yuri Maslyukov to the Russian government as minister of industry and trade. The Kremlin made a formal announcement of the appointment,

    YELTSIN TO ATTEND TSAR’S FUNERAL.

    In a surprise announcement, President Boris Yeltsin yesterday said he will attend today's funeral in St. Petersburg of the remains of Russia's last tsar and his family. Yeltsin, who will

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    Russia sounded the alarm over its continuing financial woes and looked to the world community for aid in surmounting its economic crisis. That appeal came as various Russian political groups

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    Russia sounded the alarm over its continuing financial woes and looked to the world community for aid in surmounting its economic crisis. That appeal came as various Russian political groups

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    This past fortnight was an eventful one, as Russia was shaken by a financial crisis and a miners strike, while maverick general-turned-politician Aleksandr Lebed emerged as an election victor. Moscow,

    THE FORTNIGHT IN REVIEW

    This past fortnight was an eventful one, as Russia was shaken by a financial crisis and a miners strike, while maverick general-turned-politician Aleksandr Lebed emerged as an election victor. Moscow,

    LUKASHENKA BIDS FOR RUSSIAN COMMUNIST SUPPORT.

    "Russian democrats, their Western sponsors, and Belarusan radicals have joined forces against Belarus, Lukashenka, and the Russia-Belarus Union," says Alyaksandr Lukashenka in yesterday's issue of the Russian Communist newspaper Pravda-5.

    ARMS CONTROL AT THE SUMMIT.

    Yeltsin and Clinton did their part to invigorate the arms control process, but the implementation of their initiatives is now up to their sometimes less than cooperative legislatures. Ratification of

    MOSCOW PINS ITS HOPES ON ECONOMIC AGREEMENT.

    Nothing was decided at yesterday's parliamentary hearings. But Lebed waved around pages of a draft law on establishing a free economic zone in Chechnya. This proposal, believed to be the

    RUSSIAN VOTERS FAVOR PRAGMATISTS.

    By the end of the year, voters in 52 Russian regions will have elected their governors, most for the first time. So far, the elections have brought neither the Communist

    YELTSIN REPEALS CONTROVERSIAL TAX DECREE.

    Russian president Boris Yeltsin has rescinded a widely criticized presidential decree that was supposed to close off loopholes for tax evasion. (Itar-Tass, September 6) But critics said the decree itself

    MILITARY ATROCITIES PROLIFERATE.

    Russian soldiers aboard an APC shot and mutilated the bodies of three Chechen civilians in Katyr Yurt village (western Chechnya), bringing to 17 the number of civilians found to have

    MOSCOW AND ST. PETERSBURG JOIN FORCES.

    Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov visited St. Petersburg June 27 to meet his counterpart, newly elected governor Vladimir Yakovlev. Both men are seen as pragmatic, hands-on managers. Luzhkov strongly supported Yakovlev's

    STRAINS APPEAR IN RUSSIAN COMMUNIST PARTY.

    According to reports from Moscow, a conference was held there April 2 to draft recommendations for the Russian Communist party's electoral platform and governmental program. The conference was held under

    RUSSIA DENIES ESTONIA’S LEGAL CONTINUITY.

    Commenting on the failure of last week's round of Russian-Estonian talks on defining their common border, Estonian president Lennart Meri told the press that the difficulty stemmed not from any

    NOTES:

    1. Russian TV, Interfax, March 14 2.

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax & Reuter, March 13 2. Delovaya Rossiya, March 11 3. The New York Times, March 13 4. The New York Times & Reuter, March 13 5. Reuter, March

    NOTES:

    1. Russian TV, "Vesti," & Interfax, March 12 2. NTV, "Geroi dnya," March 11 3. Interfax, March 11 4. Russian & Western agencies, March 12 5. Interfax, March 12 6.

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax, Itar-Tass, NTV, western agencies, Match 7 2. Itar-Tass, Interfax, NTV, March 7 3. Interfax and Russian Public Television, "Vremya," March 7 4. Reuter & AP, March 7 5.

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax, NTV, western agencies, March 5 and 6 2. Reuter, March 6 3. Izvestiya, March 6 4. Reuter, March 5; UPI, March 6 5. Interfax, March 6 6. Reuter,

    NOTES:

    1. RTR, "Vesti," March 5 2. RTR, March 5 3. Russian Television, Interfax, March 5 4. Interfax, March 5 5. Reuter & Interfax, March 5 6. Interfax, and Russian Public

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax & Reuter, March 4 2. Interfax, NTV, western agencies, March 4 3. RTR, March 4 4. RTR, Interfax, March 4 5. Pravda, February 28, Nezavisimaya gazeta, March 1

    NOTES:

    1. European Commission Press Release, March 1, 1996 2. AP, March 1 3. Reuter, February 29 4. Interfax, Itar-Tass, Russian TV, NTV, western agencies, March 2 through 4 5. Izvestiya,

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax, February 29 2. Financial Times, March 1 3. Interfax, February 29; see also Monitor, February 28 4. Nezavisimaya gazeta, February 28 5. Interfax, February 29 6. Nezavisimaya gazeta,

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax, February 28 2. Interfax, February 28 3. Russian Television, February 28 4. Interfax, February 28 5. Reuter, UPI, AP, February 28 6. Reuter, February 28 7. Interfax, February

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax, February 27; for background, see Financial Times, February 23 2. Financial Times, February 28 3. Interfax, NTV, February 27 4. Interfax, February 23 5. Rossiiskie vesti, Interfax, Nezavisimaya

    NOTES:

    1. UPI & Reuter, February 26 2. Itar-Tass, Interfax, NTV, western agencies, February 23 through 26 3. Interfax, Petroleum Information Agency, western agencies, February 23 and 26 4. Interfax, February

    DEMOCRATS REMAIN AT ODDS ON PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE.

    Meanwhile, RussiaÕs ÒdemocratsÓ are as divided as ever. Anatoly Chubais managed last week to engineer talks between Yegor Gaidar and Grigory Yavlinsky over the possibility of uniting behind a single

    NOTES:

    1. Reuter & Interfax, February 23 2. Reuter, February 23 3. AP, February 23 4. Segodnya, February 24 5. Interfax, February 23 6. Interfax, 22 January 1996 7. Delovoi mir,

    NOTES:

    1. Financial Times, February 23 2. Obshchaya gazeta, February 22 3. Izvestiya, February 15; for a full report of the second article, see Monitor, February 21 4. Reuter & Russian

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax & UPI, February 21 2. Itar-Tass, Interfax, Russian TV, NTV, Western agencies, February 21 3. AP, February 21 4. Izvestiya, February 17 5. BNS, December 19 6. Interfax,

    NOTES:

    1. ORT, February 20; BBC World Service, February 21 2. Reuter, Interfax, & RTR, "Vesti," February 20 3. Interfax, February 20 Interfax, February 4 and 18 5. Reuter, February 20

    COMMUNIST HIERARCH DISCUSSES PARTY’S AGENDA.

    A discussion between the veteran legal journalist Yuri Feofanov and the Communist lawyer Yuri Ivanov casts light on the plans of the RussiaÕs Communists if, as they confidently expect, they

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax, NTV, western agencies, February 19 2. Itar-Tass, Russian TV, February 19 3. Reuter, UPI, & Interfax, February 19 4. Russian Public Television, February 19 5. UPI & Interfax,

    NOTES:

    1. NTV, February 16 2. NTV, February 15; Interfax, February 16; RTR, February 15 and 18 3. Reuter, February 16 & 17; Die Welt, February 19 4. Reuter, Itar-Tass, February

    NOTES:

    1. Itar-Tass and western agencies, February 15 2. Interfax, Russian TV, NTV, February 15 3. Interfax, February 15; Financial Times, February 16 4. Reuter, February 15 5. Itar-Tass, February 15

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax, February 13 2. Reuter & Interfax, February 14 3. Interfax, February 14 4. Russian Public Television, "Geroi Dnya," February 14 5. Reuter and Interfax, February 13 6. NTV,

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax, February 13 2. Reuter, February 13 3. Segodnya, February 8 4. Interfax, February 13 5. Segodnya, February 10 6. Interfax, February 13 7. Interfax, February 13 8. BBC

    NOTES:

    1. Itar-Tass, February 9 2. Russian Public Television, "Vremya," Interfax, February 12 3. Izvestiya, February 13 4. Reuter, February 12 5. Itar-Tass & UPI, February 7; Reuter, February 12 6.

    NOTES:

    1. Russian and Western agencies, February 10 & 11 2. Russian and Western agencies, February 10 & 11 3. Russian and Western agencies, NTV, February 9 - 11 4. NTV,

    NOTES:

    1. Reuter, February 8 2. Reuter, February 7; The Times [of London], February 8 3. Interfax, February 7 4. The Times [of London], February 7 5. Itar-Tass, Interfax, February 8

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax & Reuter, February 7 2. Russian TV, Geroy dnya & Interfax, February 7 3. Reuter and Interfax, February 7 4. Interfax, February 7 5. Moscow News, January 24-February

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax, February 6, citing Rossiiskaya gazeta of the same date 2. Russian Television, January 26 3. Reuter, Interfax, February 5 4. Interfax, February 6 5. Delovaya Rossiya, February 6

    NOTES:

    1. BBC World Service, February 5 2. Interfax, February 3 3. Interfax, February 4 4. Izvestiya, February 6; Interfax, February 5 5. Reuter, February 5 6. AFP, Interfax, Russian TV,

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax, February 3 2. Interfax, Reuter, February 3 and 4 3. Reuter, February 4 4. Izvestiya, February 3 5. UPI & Interfax, February 2 6. Interfax, March 10, 1995

    NOTES:

    1. Ukrainian TV, January 31; Itar-Tass, Ukrinform-Tass, AFP, Reuter, Interfax, BBC World Service, February 1 2. Reuter, February 1 3. Interfax, January 31 4. Reuter, February 1 5. Izvestiya, February

    NOTES:

    1. BBC World Service, February 1 2. Interfax, January 31 3. The Washington Post, Reuter, & Interfax, January 31 4. Interfax, January 31 5. European Commission Press Release, January 31;

    NOTES:

    1. Reuter, January 30; New York Times, January 31 2. Interfax, January 30 3. Izvestiya, Interfax, January 30 4. BBC World Service, January 30 5. Izvestiya, January 30 6. Interfax,

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax, January 29 2. Russian TV, "Vesti," January 29 3. Reuter, Itar-Tass, and Interfax, January 29 4. Reuter, January 26 & 29 5. BBC World Service, Reuters, January 29

    NOTES:

    1. Russian TV, "Segodnya," January 17; Russian and Western Press Agencies, January 16 & 17 2. Russian TV, Segodnya, January 27; Interfax, January 27 3. Reuter & Interfax, January 28

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax, January 25 2. Financial Times, January 26 3. Reuter & Interfax, January 25 4. European Parliament session news press release, January 18; Interfax, January 25 5. Interfax, January

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax, January 24 2. Izvestiya, January 18 3. Interfax, January 23 4. Interfax, January 24 5. Russian TV, "Vesti", & Interfax, January 24 6. UPI & Interfax, January 24

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax, BBC World Service, January 23 2. Interfax, Russian TV, January 23 3. UPI, January 23 4. Interfax, January 23 5. Interfax, January 23 6. Interfax, January 23 7.

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax, Itar-Tass, Russian TV, NTV, Reuter, January 21 and 22 2. Interfax and Russian TV, January 18 3. Russian TV, "Vesti" newscast, January 20 4. NTV, January 20 5.

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax, Itar-Tass, RIA, Russian TV, NTV, Izvestiya, Segodnya, Reuter, AFP, January 19 through 21 2. Western and Russian agencies, January 19 through 21 3. Russian TV, Reuter, January 19

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax, Itar-Tass, Western agencies, January 18 and 19 2. Interfax, Itar-Tass, Western agencies, January 18 and 19 3. UPI, Reuter January 18 4. Reuter, January 18 5. Izvestiya, January

    NOTES:

    1. Itar-Tass, Interfax, NTV, Reuter, various Western media, January 17 and 18 2. ORT [Russian Public Television], "Vremya," January 17 3. Izvestiya, January 18 4. Russian TV & Interfax, January

    NOTES:

    1. Russian TV, Reuters, January 16 2. Itar-Tass, Interfax, NTV, Western agencies, January 16 3. UPI, January 15 4. Kommersant daily, January 16 5. Interfax, January 16 6. Interfax, January

    NOTES:

    1. Russian TV, January 12-15; Interfax, Reuter, January 13-15 2. Itar-Tass, Interfax, Reuter, January 15 and 16 3. Interfax & Reuter, January 15 4. Itar-Tass, Interfax, Russian TV, January 14

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax, January 11; Reuter, January 11&12 2. Reuter, January 11 3. Reuter, January 11 4. Interfax, January 11 5. Reuter, January 10 6. Interfax, January 11 7. BBC World

    NOTES:

    1. Russian, Western news agencies, January 10 2. Interfax, January 10 3. Interfax, January 10 4. Interfax, January 10 5. Interfax, January 10 6. Interfax, January 10 7. Izvestiya, January

    NOTES:

    1. Russian, Western news agencies, January 10 2. Reuter, January 8 3. The Washington Post, January 9 4. Interfax, January 9 5. Reuter, January 8 6. Interfax, January 9 7.

    NOTES:

    1. Russian, Western news agencies, January 9 2. Reuter, Itar-Tass, January 8 3. Russian and Western agencies, January 4-5 4. Itar-Tass, Reuter, January 9 5. Reuter, January 7 6. Reuter,

    NOTES:

    1. Western and Russian agencies, January 5 & 6 2. Interfax, January 5 3. Reuter, January 5 4. Interfax, January 3 5. Interfax, January 5 6. Interfax, January 5 7.

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax, January 4 2. Reuter, January 5 3. Interfax-Ukraine and Interfax, January 4 4. Interfax-Ukraine, January 3 and 4 5. Reuter, January 4 6. Rossiiskaya gazeta, January 4; Interfax,

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax, January 3 2. Interfax, January 3 3. Interfax, January 3 4. Interfax, January 3 5. Interfax-Ukraine, January 3 6. Western agencies, December 30 7. Interfax, December 29 and

    NOTES:

    1. BelTA, Belarusian Radio, December 29 2. Itar-Tass and Interfax, January 2 3. Interfax, January 1 4. Interfax, December 30 5. Petroleum Information Agency and Interfax Oil & Gas Report

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax, December 17 2. Reuter, December 28; Interfax, December 29 & 31 3. Interfax, December 31 4. Interfax, December 30 5. Russian TV, December 27; Interfax, NTV, Reuter, December

    TRANSDNIESTER VOTING: YES TO CIS, NO TO REFORMS.

    "Dniester republic" authorities have yet to announce the purported final returns of elections and two referenda they organized December 24 in that region of Moldova. The referenda asked the voters

    ZYUGANOV STARTS IN MOLDOVA TO REASSEMBLE USSR.

    Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov said in a December 20 newspaper interview that his party, now the Duma's strongest by far, has "a strategy for a stage-by-stage (poetapnoe) restoration of

    CHECHNYA: RUSSIAN MILITARY TRIUMPH AT THE POLLS.

    In another unverifiable and implausible result of the elections in Chechnya, Russia's military commissar for the republic, Maj. General Ibrahim Suleymenov, was proclaimed yesterday the winner of the Duma seat

    GEORGIAN CABINET APPROVED.

    The parliament of Georgia has approved most of President Eduard Shevardnadze's choices for cabinet posts, following individual consideration of the nominations submitted by the ruling Union of Georgian Citizens. Former

    REFORMERS CONCERNED BUT NOT ALARMED

    . Yabloko party leader Grigori Yavlinsky predicted, that Yeltsin, being a populist, would try to move closer to the communists, just as he coopted some nationalist positions after the Zhirinovsky

    AZERBAIJAN, IRAN SEEKING TO MEND FENCES.

    President Heydar Aliyev and other Azerbaijani officials conferred December 12 and 13 in Baku with Iran's deputy foreign minister Mahmud Vaezi. Both sides at the talks were cited as seeking

    DUBIOUS SUCCESS FOR BELARUS DEMOCRACY.

    The elation of President Lukashenko's foes following Sunday's election of a viable parliament may be short-lived. In fundamental respects, the new assembly promises to be even less reform-minded than the

    SHEVARDNADZE FORMING NEW CABINET.

    Georgia's recently inaugurated president Eduard Shevardnadze submitted December 11 a list of ministerial nominees for consideration by the parliament. The outgoing deputy prime minister, Irakly Menagarishvili is nominated as foreign

    RUSSIAN POLITICIANS GLANCE AT THE "NEAR ABROAD."

    Contrary to widespread expectations, the theme of Russians in the "near abroad" and of Russia's relations with the CIS countries has thus far been marginal in Russia's current electoral campaign.

    ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF "RED-BROWN" VICTORY ASSESSED.

    It is generally agreed that a communist/nationalist victory in December's parliamentary elections will have more immediate repercussions in foreign policy than in domestic policy. A sober and empirically-based analysis by

    KAZAKHSTAN PRESSED ON ETHNIC RUSSIAN ISSUE.

    The presidents of Russia and Kazakhstan, Boris Yeltsin and Nursultan Nazarbayev, papered over disputed issues at a meeting yesterday. Nazarbayev, on a stopover on his way to Paris, became the

    NOTES:

    1. Itar-Tass, Interfax, Russia's Radio, September 28 2. Reuters, September 27 3. Itar-Tass, Russian TV, Public TV, Moscow's Echo radio, September 28 4. Moskovsky komsomolets, September 28 5. Kommersant Daily,

    NOTES:

    1. Western agencies, September 26-27 . 2. Reuter, September 27. 3. Reuter, September 27. 4. Reuter, September 27. 5. Russian TV, September 27. 6. Interfax, Russia's Radio, September 27. 7.

    NOTES:

    1. Interfax, September. 25 2. Reuters, September 26 3. Reuter and Itar-Tass, September 26 4. Interfax, September 25 5. Itar- Tass, Russian TV, Public TV, September 25, 26 6. Itar-Tass,

    ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT IN CHECHNYA FAILS.

    Oleg Lobov, Russian security council secretary and special envoy of president Yeltsin for Chechnya, and other senior Russian officials and pro-Moscow Chechens escaped injury when a remote-control bomb damaged a

    POLITICAL STABILIZATION IN GEORGIA.

    Head of state Eduard Shevardnadze's irreconcilable opponent Jaba Ioseliani announced September 14 his withdrawal from the presidential race, charging that the state authorities were preventing him from campaigning. Two days

    TRANSDNIESTER IMPASSE DEEPENING.

    At the August 8 meetingof the tripartite armistice control commission, the Transdniesterside raised the new demand that the Moldovan peacekeeping contingentgive up its armored vehicles, Flux and Basapress reported. Thosevehicles

    CHECHENS MAKE CONCESSIONS AT GROZNY TALKS.

    Chechen negotiator Usman Imayev said that he had reached agreement with the Russian side on all military issues, Russian radio reported June 22. Umayev said that the Chechens were prepared

    CHECHEN WAR AFTER SIX MONTHS.

    Russian forces continued their attacks on Shatoi and Nozhay-Yurt June 12 as the two sides entered their seventh month of fighting, Itar-Tass reported June 12. Russian commanders said that they

    RUSSIAN FORCES PUSH INTO CHECHEN MOUNTAINS.

    The Russian army on June 5 advanced beyond Vedeno, the Chechen headquarters that fell to Moscow June 4. Russian television showed the Russian flag flying over the city, and Russian

    FROM A CONTENTIOUS SUMMIT…

    Russian commentators on the Clinton-Yeltsin summit portrayed it as a victory for the Russian side. Kommersant-daily noted on May 11 that Clinton had backed down on the Iranian nuclear sale,

    CHECHEN FIGHTING CONTINUES.

    Clashes between Russian and Chechen forces continued over the weekend in both Grozny and in the eastern regions of the republic, Moscow media reported. A Russian jet was shot down

    CHECHEN FIGHTING INTENSIFIES.

    Fighting in Grozny continued overnight making a mockery of both the Russian cease-fire and the Russian-imposed curfew there, Itar-Tass said May 4. Tass said that the latest attacks bring the

    FSB DIRECTOR VISITS CHECHEN CAPITAL.

    On December 19, FSB director Nikolai Patrushev paid an unannounced visit to the Chechen capital, where he took part in a meeting of the pro-Moscow Chechen FSB in which the

    POLITKOVSKAYA RETURNS TO RUSSIA.

    The well-known award-winning Russian war correspondent Anna Politkovskaya has returned to Russia after being ordered by her editors to take refuge abroad for several months in the face of serious

    RESTORATION FUNDS STILL GOING MISSING.

    Over the past week and a half, there have been indications that federal funds intended for the restoration of Chechnya have, as before, been disappearing into a bottomless "black hole."

    KHATTAB: DEAD OR ALIVE? “

    Where is Khattab's head?" the publication Mir Novostei recently asked insistently. "Judging by public opinion polls," the publication went on, "less than a third of Russians believe in the death

    NOVAYA GAZETA MUZZLED? “

    The property of Novaya Gazeta is under arrest," the website NTV.ru reported on June 7. Bailiffs from the Basmannyi Court in Moscow have begun to "conduct an inventory of [the

    SAD SITUATION FOR RETURNING REFUGEES.

    What conditions await the returning IDPs in Chechnya? Reporting on a recent visit to the Chechen capital, correspondent Jens Hartmann of Die Welt wrote: "The [pro-Moscow] Chechen government is separated

    DEMAND FOR RE-ARREST OF SERGEI LAPIN.

    Writing in the July 8 (no. 48) issue of Novaya Gazeta, the editors of the twice-weekly pro-democracy publication reported: "They have released from prison one of the most cruel of

    KEY TO PEACE PLAN IS “SPECIAL STATUS”.

    The July 16 issue of Moskovskie Novosti contains an interview by the well-known journalist Sanobar Shermatova with Professor Ruslan Khasbulatov, a former speaker of the Russian parliament and an ethnic

    CHECHENS REVAMP THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT.

    On July 23, the newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported that an expanded session of the State Defense Committee of Ichkeria had been held in the Vedeno District of Chechnya during late

    HIGHLIGHTS

    * Russia's citizens weigh in* The Chechen factor* Did Itum-Kale incident happen?* Moscow happy to conduct special operaton* Washington backs Georgia* Choosing between evils* Nothing has changed* Budanov witness admits

    CONDITIONS AT HOME.

    The September 3 issue of the weekly Ezhenedel'nyi Zhurnal carried a report by journalist Evgeny Pakhomov entitled "Deportation to One's Home," which sums up his observations made during a recent

    KVASHNIN INSPECTS CHECHNYA.

    On September 9-10, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, General of the Army Anatoly Kvashnin, conducted an inspection visit of Russian military and police checkpoints

    RYBKIN REPORTS ON SHEVARDNADZE MEETING.

    In the first week of September, Ivan Rybkin, a former speaker of the Russian State Duma and a former secretary of the Russian Security Council, traveled to Tbilisi to discuss

    WEARY OF WAR.

    In an interview appearing in the no. 31 (September 13-20) issue of the weekly Vek, retired MVD General Aslambek Aslakhanov, the elected deputy from Chechnya to the Russian State Duma,

    HIGHLIGHTS

    * Kremlin still betting on Kadyrov* Politkovskaya interviews Sergunin* Kavkaz slams Khasbulatov* "The crisis cannot be resolved without talk"* Maigov embraces Primakov's Six Points* No ties to bin Laden* Perspective:

    POWELL ADVOCATES DIALOG.

    On October 16, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell published an essay entitled "Russia and the U.S. Are Not Competing for Spheres of Influence" in one of the leading Russian

    RUSSIAN AND CHECHEN REPRESENTATIVES MEET.

    The October 16 issue of Nezavismaya Gazeta carried an article by journalist Il'ya Maksakov entitled "A Representative of Putin Has Met with the People of Maskhadov." On October 13, Maksakov

    GRANI.RU: “A CERTAIN PRIVATE ASSIGNMENT”.

    Citing a report that had appeared in the newspaper Kommersant, the website Grani.ru wrote on October 17: "In Switzerland, in approximately two weeks' time, new negotiations of a deputy of

    PUTIN NOT YET A DE GAULLE.

    The November 5 issue of the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung carried an article by German specialist Aleksandr Rahr (who is of Russian descent) which was translated into Russian and posted

    ON BEING A CHECHEN IN MOSCOW.

    Writing in the November 11 issue of Novaya Gazeta, award-winning war correspondent Anna Politkovskaya focused on the fate of the estimated 100,000 Chechens living in Moscow in the aftermath of

    RUSSIAN OPINION TURNS AWAY FROM WAR

    After a surge of hawkish passions in the wake of October's hostagetaking raid on a Moscow theater, Russian public opinion has swung back to its previous pattern of favoring peace

    SUICIDE BOMBING IN GROZNY

    Easily the most important event in Chechnya since the last issue of this Weekly, published just before Christmas, took place on December 27, when three unidentified terrorists drove their bomb-laden

    RUSSIAN OFFICER ESCAPES CRIMINAL PENALTIES

    Russian prosecutors are at least trying to create the public impression that they have not given up on trying to bring to justice the only senior Russian military officer to

    PLIGHT OF CHECHEN REFUGEES

    Two members of President Putin's commission on human rights charge that "various agencies" have been trying to get them to soften the content of the report that they were preparing

    MOSCOW STILL PURSUIING ZAKAEV

    In early January the Russian government continued its efforts to extradite top Maskhadov aide Akhmed Zakaev, with Deputy General Prosecutor Sergei Fridinski stated that the British courts' review of Moscow's

    REFERENDUM SET FOR MARCH 23

    The pro-Moscow administration in Grozny has announced that voting for their proposed new constitution for the republic is set for March 23. Human rights specialists are questioning the legitimacy of

    MORE CIVILIANS KIDNAPPED

    Recent months have seen a significant change in the Russian forces' tactics in Chechnya, according to one of Russia's most respected human rights organizations. Eliza Musaeva, who heads the office

    LORD JUDD CALLS FOR POSTPONING REFERENDUM

    Lord Frank Judd, chief rapporteur for Chechnya of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), kept his counsel until returning from his recent visit to Chechnya. Before flying

    KADYROV FENDS OFF BABICH

    It would seem that Akhmad Kadyrov now has the upper hand over Mikhail Babich in the power struggle within the Moscow-appointed Chechen administration. The Itar-Tass news agency reported on January

    ZAKAEV: WILL HE BE EXTRADITED?

    An aide to Akhmed Zakaev, vice premier of Chechnya's underground separatist government, told the Jamestown Foundation in a February 3 telephone conversation from London that Zakaev is confident the Russian

    IS MOSCOW SUBSIDIZING CHECHEN REBELS?

    Federal subsidies to Chechnya are in effect financing the separatist guerrillas, according to an article by Valery Vyzhutovich in "Moskovskie Novosti." Much of the federal aid intended for Chechnya goes

    NEWS BRIEFS

    --KREMLIN ADMITS CONSTITUTION FLAWED. The Putin administration's in-house human rights advisers admit that its proposed constitution for Chechnya has serious flaws. Human-rights ombudsman Oleg Mironov told Radio Liberty on February

    CASUALTY FIGURES

    How many Russian soldiers have died in the current Chechen war? Russian officials issued dramatically conflicting accounts on February 17, with the Defense Ministry in Moscow contradicting figures released earlier

    NEW CHECHEN REPRESENTATIVE IN MOSCOW

    It would appear that separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov now has a new representative in Moscow. At least, Salambek Maigov's claim to have been appointed to that position on February 3

    PUTIN IN FRANCE

    Did President Jacques Chirac of France endorse the Kremlin's March 23 constitutional referendum during Vladimir Putin's recent visit to Paris? No, but the pro-Putin Russian media are trying to create

    KEY WESTERN DIPLOMAT ENDORSES REFERENDUM…

    In another major victory for its policies in Chechnya, the Putin administration has now persuaded the human-rights commissioner for the Council of Europe to endorse its controversial referendum to ratify

    …RUSSIAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST DEMURS.

    Kadyrov's concession to Gil-Robles "changes nothing," dissident member of the Russian parliament Sergei Kovalev told Jamestown in a February 13 telephone interview. He said that if one accepted the official

    BOOK REVIEW

    Matthew Evangelista, The Chechen Wars: Will Russia Go the Way of the Soviet Union? Brookings Institution Press, Washington, 2002. The key to Matthew Evangelista's new book on Chechnya is its

    NEWS BRIEFS

    --REVERSAL ON VOTING RIGHTS FOR CHECHEN REFUGEES? In an apparent reversal, the head of the Moscow-appointed Chechen government told a Grozny press conference on February 25 that only voters physically

    MAIGOV DESIGNATION CONFIRMED…

    Akhmed Zakaev, who represents Aslan Maskhadov's separatist government in Western Europe, has confirmed that Salambek Maigov is indeed also a legitimate representative of that underground government. He told a correspondent

    FEBRUARY 23, 1944

    Monday, February 24, was a day off across Russia in celebration of armed forces day, which this year fell on a Sunday. In a country that has long had compulsory

    AUSHEV INTERVIEW

    The Moscow weekly Novoye vremya (New Time) recently published a strikingly candid interview with Ruslan Aushev, former president of Ingushetia and now head of the committee for veterans' affairs of

    NEW IDEA OF HEROISM

    Russia's highest military award, the order of "Hero of Russia," has been bestowed on five people for their roles in the Dubrovka Theater hostage crisis of October 2002. But a

    INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIMES COURT FOR CHECHNYA?

    The likely resignation of Lord Frank Judd, currently serving as rapporteur for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, does not necessarily mean that Russia will now get a

    A REFERENDUM WITHOUT REGISTERED OPPOSITION

    Moscow clearly wants Western observers to monitor the March 23 constitutional referendum in Chechnya as a symbol of its legitimacy, and also for those observers to concentrate on such purely

    STATE DEPARTMENT BLACKLISTS THREE CHECHEN GROUPS

    Knowledgeable observers in both Moscow and Washington have been predicting for weeks that the U.S. State Department, under heavy lobbying from the Kremlin, would formally classify three Chechen organizations as

    CONCILIATORY GESTURES

    Political analyst Aleksei Makarkin suggested in a detailed commentary published on March 3 by the website Politcom.ru that the federal authorities are making conciliatory gestures toward the opponents of their

    BUS ATTACK CONFIRMS CONTINUING HOSTILITIES

    Two unpleasant but important truths were confirmed on April 20, when a pro-separatist website broadcast a video documenting a successful April 15 attack on a bus near Grozny. The first

    YUSHENKOV MURDER LINKED TO CHECHNYA?

    Was the April 17 murder of the prominent Russian reformist legislator, Sergei Yushenkov, connected with his opposition to the Putin administration's war on Chechnya? Perhaps some deathbed confession or leak

    UN RIGHTS VOTE GOES DOWN TO DEFEAT

    The United Nations Commission on Human Rights--which this year is chaired by the delegation from Libya--on April 16 defeated a resolution criticizing the Russian government for its policies in Chechnya.

    RUSSIA CLOSING CHECKPOINTS?

    One of the crowd-pleasing gestures made by the Russian authorities just prior to the March 23 constitutional referendum was the announcement that they would begin reducing the number of checkpoints

    LAST MINUTE REFERENDUM MANEUVERS AND FORECASTS

    The administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin and its allies in Grozny are clearly counting on a big win in Saturday's (March 22) referendum. Putin aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky said that

    PUTIN SPEECH AND REACTIONS

    In a March 16 television speech devoted entirely to this weekend's constitutional referendum in Chechnya, President Putin hinted at new concessions to Chechen public opinion. But he did it in

    MASKHADOV FORGERY?

    Someone is trying to get Chechens to think that Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov has abruptly repudiated almost everything for which he has worked over the last decade, including independence

    HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS ARRESTED

    The Moscow activist group "For Human Rights" announced on March 14 that it had learned that Russian authorities had detained three Chechen activists at a checkpoint in Ingushetia the previous

    SECRET POLICE CAUGHT RED-HANDED

    Moscow journalist Anna Politkovskaya has made a stunning discovery in the suburbs of Chechnya, one comparable to the 1999 scandal in which secret police of Russia's Federal Security Service (the

    REFERENDUM RESULTS

    Russia's election officials were too ambitious for their own good on March 23. If they had reported that, say, 60 percent of Chechens had turned out to vote in that

    INSTITUTE OF PEACE BRIEFING

    At a March 25 policy briefing hosted by the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, a State Department official said that the referendum would not constitute a "turning point" for

    EARLY PROGNOSTICATIONS ABOUT PRESIDENTIAL RACE

    Even before announcing the final results of the referendum, the head of Russia's Central Election Commission said on March 23 that the presidential elections in Chechnya would most likely take

    MORE ON CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM

    Add one more to the list of independent eyewitnesses who flatly deny Russian claims of a huge turnout for Chechnya's March 23 constitutional referendum. Nathalie Nougayrede of Le Monde told

    CONFIDENTIAL REPORT FROM OSCE

    A fact-finding team from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which visited Chechnya on referendum day, found several "irregularities" in voting procedures, according to a confidential OSCE

    KADYROV INTERVIEW

    In a live interview with Akhmad Kadyrov aired on March 26, Vladimir Varfolomeyev of the radio station Ekho Moskvy made a crucial distinction--one that has rarely been made either before

    ETHNIC CHECHENS IN MOSCOW

    Police harassment of ethnic Chechens living in Moscow has significantly increased since the October hostage crisis, according to a briefing paper from Human Rights Watch. The paper, available via the

    BINDIG PERSISTS

    The Russian delegation to the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly received another reminder on March 31 that at least some members of that body will continue asking tough questions about

    EARLY MANEUVERS IN PRESIDENTIAL RACE

    Chechnya's upcoming presidential election, like its recent referendum, will be an exercise in court politics disguised as a popular vote. From their early maneuvers it would seem that both Akhmad

    MORE STONEWALLING OF RYAZAN INCIDENT

    Russia's secret police won a court battle on April 2, one that allows them to continue covering up their role in the mysterious 1999 terrorist bombings that laid the groundwork

    NO END TO VIOLENCE IN CHECHNYA

    The constitutional referendum has not brought peace to Chechnya. Eight civilians were killed on April 3 when a passenger bus was destroyed by a remote controlled mine. The mine was

    …AS EU, RIGHTS GROUPS, CALL FOR ACTION

    The U.S. government has decided not to co-sponsor a resolution about Chechnya at this week's meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told

    CHECHEN FIGHTERS IN IRAQ?

    In an April 12 article by one of its war correspondents in Iraq, the Times of London reports that the regime of Saddam Hussein "imported hundreds of well trained Islamic

    REPORT SAYS AMNESTY LAW DRAFTED

    Russian President Vladimir Putin's staff has already drafted legislation for an amnesty in Chechnya, the website Gazeta.ru reported on April 15. The presidential proposal will be formally introduced in the

    RUSSIAN FORCES CONTINUE TO SUFFER CASUALTIES

    Deaths and woundings from combat and mine explosions continue to be daily occurrences in Chechnya. On April 10 the Associated Press reported that six Russian troops and one police officer

    REFUGEES BEING FORCED TO LEAVE INGUSHETIA?

    The number of Chechen refugees returning to their homeland from Ingushetia has grown since the March referendum, though not dramatically, the Polit.ru website reported on April 22. The authorities have

    FINDING THE MONEY TO RECONSTRUCT CHECHNYA

    Some 366.8 million rubles (about US$12.2 million) in federal subsidies to Chechnya have been spent for purposes other than those intended, the head of the Russian parliament's audit chamber announced

    PROSPECTS FOR AMNESTY QUESTIONED

    Nezavisimaya gazeta's Andrei Riskin has also expressed skepticism about the prospects for a successful amnesty. On April 21 he reported that, according the public prosecutor's office, military servicemen of the

    HUMAN COSTS OF WAR MOUNT

    The Kadyrov administration's deputy prime minister for the security agencies, Movsar Khamidov, who had already confirmed the estimate in a leaked report that forty-nine unmarked mass graves have been found

    A PLACE FOR RUSSIANS IN CHECHNYA?

    Underscoring another of the tragic dilemmas created by the Chechen wars, some leaders of the ethnic Chechen community in Moscow are calling for special measures to attract back to the

    CHECHENS IN IRAQ: NEITHER CONFIRMED NOR DENIED

    In an April 21 telephone conversation with Jamestown, the U.S. Central Command refused to confirm or deny reports in the British press that Chechens had been captured by American troops

    SPOTLIGHT FALLS ON YET ANOTHER HOSTAGE-TAKER

    Who was the real leader of the Chechen hostage-takers who seized the Dubrovka theater last October? Most press accounts have assigned that role to Movsar Baraev, but an article in

    CANDIDATES MOOTED FOR CHECHEN PRESIDENCY

    Potential candidates for the presidency of Chechnya, together with their supporters, continue to maneuver via leaks to the press even though the date of the elections--at least six months away--has

    NO END TO KIDNAPPINGS

    Correspondent Andrei Riskin of Nezavisimaya gazeta reported on April 28 that complaints about kidnappings continue to come not only from rank-and-file Chechens, but also from members of the Kadyrov administration

    MORE JOUSTING OVER CHECHEN POLICE FORCE

    A former top official of Chechnya's Moscow-appointed administration--one of several to have lost faction fights with the head of the administration Akhmad Kadyrov--died on April 30, less than a month

    CHECHENS IN IRAQ: STILL NO CLARIFICATIONS

    Have U.S. troops captured Chechen irregulars fighting on the side of Saddam Hussein in Iraq? Vague reports to that effect have circulated in various media, but the Pentagon, the State

    …AS OTHER OBSERVERS WEIGH IN

    An article by Andrei Smirnov on a website for peace activists (https://viktorpopkov.narod.ru) described that writer's own past encounters with Terkibaev. Smirnov wrote that in March of 2002 the mysterious Chechen

    REFUGEES PRESSURED TO LEAVE INGUSHETIA

    Despite mounting pressures from both provincial and federal officials, more than 98 percent of Chechen refugee families now living in tent camps in Ingushetia do not want to return to

    DEADLY ATTACK ROCKS NORTHERN TOWN

    As of the morning of May 14, the number of confirmed dead in the May 12 truck bombing of the district-administration headquarters in the north Chechen town of Znamenskoe had

    CZECHS TO REPATRIATE REFUGEES?

    The Czech Republic is considering a plan to repatriate several hundred Chechen refugees who have entered the republic from Poland in recent months, the human rights group Prague Watchdog reported

    COMMANDOS RIP SENIOR OFFICERS

    The May 12 issue of Novaya gazeta includes a letter from anonymous servicemen of Russia's elite Alpha commando force to Yury Shchekochikhin. He is the newspaper's deputy editor and is

    TERROR ATTACKS SUGGEST DISTURBING TREND

    In some few respects--indeed, fewer even than a year ago--Shamil Basaev remains a traditional Chechen rebel rather than a postmodern global terrorist. For one, he takes full, public and personal

    ANOTHER DELAY IN BUDANOV MURDER CASE…

    The Yury Budanov case continues to test the Russian judicial system's ability to bring to justice Russian servicemen accused of atrocities against Chechen civilians. The case is still proceeding at

    …ACCUSED SEEKS JURY TRIAL

    The next step, also clearly intended to take advantage of Russia's political climate, was for Dulimov to file a petition for a jury trial. (For the previous three years the

    REFUGEES RESIST RETURN

    A key official of the Kadyrov administration confirmed this week, at least in part, what international humanitarian groups and human-rights advocates have been saying for many months: Most refugees in

    PUTIN AMNESTY PROPOSAL RAISES HOST OF QUESTIONS…

    Russian President Vladimir Putin's amnesty proposal, which last week received preliminary approval from the federal Duma, is intended in large part to serve the same purpose as his March constitutional

    …IMPLEMENTATION EQUALLY PROBLEMATIC

    Does Putin's proposed "procedure for implementing the decree" make things clearer? "To some extent, Yes," Memorial has answered. What the "procedural" text makes obvious is that the organs entrusted with

    TWO CHECHEN WOMEN ABDUCTED

    The Nazran office of the respected Russian human rights organization Memorial reported last week that, on May 17, a civilian woman and a teenage girl were kidnapped in the village

    KADYROV TAKES OVER SPECIAL-POLICE UNIT

    The head of Chechnya's "pro-Moscow" (a phrase that perhaps should now be used only within quotation marks) administration has taken another large step toward consolidating his personal control over the

    DIPLOMATIC GAINS FOR MOSCOW

    The European Union issued its flabbiest statement yet on Chechnya during last weekend's EU-Russia summit meeting in St. Petersburg. Prime Minister Costas Simitis of Greece, which currently holds the EU's

    KADYROV BID GAINS MOMENTUM

    Akhmar Zavgaev, Chechnya's representative in the upper house of the Russian parliament, has given the Kadyrov-for-president bandwagon another push. On June 2 Zavgaev told the Moscow daily Kommersant that the

    AID FUNDS DIVERTED

    The embezzlement of funds supposedly intended for the restoration of Chechnya, a practice already taken for granted by most observers, is now further testing the limits of cynicism. According to

    LOOKING FOR MASKHADOV

    Akhmad Kadyrov announced on May 31 that "a large reward" will be paid to anyone providing information leading to the capture of Aslan Maskhadov. He did not specify the source

    REBEL ACTION WARMS WITH WEATHER

    Just as the separatist rebels warned during the winter, the return of a protective cover of foliage this spring has brought with it an upsurge in the rebels' military activities.

    FEDERAL REINFORCEMENTS ON THE WAY

    During the period leading up to the March referendum in Chechnya, the Russian authorities repeatedly announced that they were starting to reduce the Russian military presence there. Russian television triumphantly

    AMNESTY DECREE GETS FINAL APPROVAL

    The Russian parliament gave final approval on June 6 to the Putin administration's amnesty decree, the formal text of which can be found on the website of Rossiskaya gazeta (the

    SPECULATION OVER MOZDOK BOMBING

    Of the eighteen servicemen and civilian employees of the federal air force killed by a female suicide bomber on June 5 in the southern Russian city of Mozdok, twelve were

    ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS DETAILED

    A June 5 report by Grozny journalist Liza Abdurashidova for the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting discussed the ecological damage that Chechnya has suffered during a decade of

    HAUNTING YUSHENKOV LECTURE BROADCAST

    On June 6 listeners of Radio Liberty heard a dramatic broadcast of a recording made by a now-dead member of the Russian Duma who may have been assassinated by his

    ACPC DIRECTOR INTERVIEWS MAIGOV

    Despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's uncompromising rhetoric about Chechnya, observers continue to report indications that the Kremlin is keeping alive a back channel for a possible negotiated settlement with Aslan

    KHASBULATOV ASSESSES RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

    Glen Howard also met in Moscow with Ruslan Khasbulatov, who in the early 1990s held as high a position as any ethnic Chechen ever has in Russia--speaker of the Russian

    MASKHADOV-BASAEV LINK QUESTIONED

    Just what are current relations between Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basaev? On June 13 the radio station Ekho Moskvy reported on indications that the elected head of Chechnya's separatist government

    MORE ON KADYROV PERSONNEL SHAKEUP

    As the dust settles after Akhmad Kadyrov's recent shakeup of his cabinet and of local administration heads, it is increasingly clear that the surprise move was planned as part of

    RAID ON REFUGEE CAMP

    Earlier this month, Chechen residents of a refugee camp in Narzan, Ingushetia, experienced a "zachistka" security sweep of the sort more usually associated with Chechnya itself. Leila Lileva of the

    MAIGOV PLANS VISIT TO UNITED STATES

    Salambek Maigov, the official Moscow representative of the Maskhadov separatist government, plans to visit the United States in mid-July. The visit will be another in a series of foreign trips

    KADYROV SEEKS TO BECOME OIL TYCOON

    The next struggle between Akhmad Kadyrov and the federal center will be over control of Chechnya's economic resources, especially oil. On June 21 the Chechen media published Kadyrov's proposed draft

    BRUTAL DEATHS FOR THREE CHECHEN BOYS

    One of the most feared places in Chechnya is the huge Russian base at Khankala, just outside Grozny. It is feared not so much because it is the main headquarters

    THE ARMY SPEAKS OUT…

    Since the official Kremlin line insists that Russia's military operations are succeeding in the pacification of Chechnya, it is difficult for Russia's generals to discuss candidly in public the precise

    BOOK REVIEW: TEN KEYS FOR UNDERSTANDING CHECHNYA

    Comite Tchetchenie, Tchetchenie: Dix cles pour comprendre ("Chechnya: Ten Keys for Understanding"). Paris, La Decouverte, 9 bis, rue Abel-Hovelacque, 75013 Paris (www.editionsladecouverte.fr). ISBN 2-7071-3997-1 125 pages. Price: 6.4 Euros (@US$

    VILLAGE LEADER MURDERED

    A band of unidentified attackers murdered the head of the council of elders in the village of Vashindaroi in Chechnya's Shatoi district during the night of June 26-27. They burst

    KADYROV AS MEDIEVAL BARON

    Relations between Akhmad Kadyrov and the Kremlin seem ever more to be like those that existed before the rise of the modern state between a medieval baron and a royal

    QUESTIONS RAISED OVER LATEST TERRORIST ATTACK

    In what has become a familiar pattern, Russian security agencies began blaming Chechens for the latest terrorist attack in Moscow almost before the dust had settled. President Putin announced that

    INFIGHTING DOOMS FORENSICS LAB

    The Russian Defense Ministry has apparently succeeded in ridding itself of a whistle blowing forensics expert who had made himself a hero to the relatives of soldiers fighting in Chechnya.

    SECURITY SWEEPS CONTINUE

    Contradicting reports by human-rights advocates that "zachistki" security sweeps have significantly decreased this year, Chechens from the village of Gikalo, about three miles south of Grozny, launched a protest rally

    KADYROV RIDING HIGH–FOR NOW

    The Kremlin has officially announced that Sunday, October 5, has been set as the date of Chechnya's presidential election. That early date (almost as early as possible under the new

    CHECHEN JOURNALIST IS KIDNAPPED

    A Chechen journalist employed by Agence France-Presse has been kidnapped in Ingushetia. Unidentified gunmen seized Ali Astamirov on July 4 from the car of Radio Liberty journalist Aslambek Dadaev, who

    WAR CRITIC IS MOURNED

    Moscow's beleaguered human rights advocates are keeping open minds about the death on July 2 of one of their heroes, Duma member Yury Shchekochikhin. The outspoken critic of the war

    ARE THERE CHECHENS IN IRAQ…

    Government officials in Moscow, London and Washington constantly repeat the claim that the Chechen separatist movement cooperates with global terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda. The mainstream media often repeat

    …OR AL QAEDA IN THE CAUCASUS?

    An April 26 article in the Washington Post quoted Rohan Gunaratna of St. Andrews University in Scotland as saying that after the fall of the Taliban regime, "Chechnya and the

    TORTURE REPORT SINGLES OUT GROZNY FACILITY

    If you were a Chechen who had been swept up by federal forces in one of their "zachistka" security sweeps--and if they did not simply kill you immediately--where would you

    WAR CASUALTIES ARE NEGLECTED

    In an article for the Caucasus Reporting Service of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (www.iwpr.net), Timur Aliev wrote that Chechens crippled by military action cannot always be sure

    REFUGEES HAVE LITTLE HOPE FOR FUTURE

    As both Russian and local authorities continue to pressure Chechen refugees to return home from Ingushetia, a new survey by the Caucasus Times has found that the great majority of

    MASKHADOV REPRESENTATIVE VISITS WASHINGTON

    About 20 percent of the Kadyrov administration's gunmen are secretly loyal to the secessionist government of President Aslan Maskhadov, a key Maskhadov representative claimed during a visit to Washington last

    CHECHEN PRESIDENT ISSUES STATEMENT

    President Maskhadov of Chechnya's underground separatist government issued a statement on July 21 calling for an "adequate reaction" from the international community to his Foreign Ministry's proposal for conditional independence

    RIGHTS GROUPS TO BE SCRUTINIZED?

    Another Putin appointee called on July 22 for an investigation into the financial sources of independent human rights organizations that have criticized Putin's policies in Chechnya. In an interview with

    …ONE IS CARRIED OUT IN CHERNORECHYE

    Correspondent Ruslan Isaev of Prague Watchdog reported on July 21 that federal servicemen detained eight residents of Grozny's Chernorechnye district, including three girls, in a July 16 "zachistka." According to

    MOSCOW MAKES NO HEADWAY IN ZAKAEV EXTRADITION

    The Putin administration's effort to extradite Akhmed Zakaev--an emissary of Aslan Maskhadov--from the United Kingdom suffered another defeat this month when one of the Kremlin's principal witnesses undermined an accusation

    KADYROV RECRUITMENT DRAWS MORE ATTENTION

    It is not only the ultra-nationalist Russian media that grumble about the Kadyrov administration's recruitment of former rebel guerrillas. The newly revived Moscow newspaper Novye izvestia, a vocal defender of

    A DISSENTING VOICE

    The new head of the Chechen Republic's OMON special police hinted in an interview published by the website Utro.ru on July 21 that he does not entirely agree with the

    REFORMERS SEEK TO LEGISLATE WAR OPERATIONS

    Pro-reform deputies in the Russian parliament hope to force a debate this fall on a legislative proposal that would, as a report in Novye izvestia put it, "place the [Chechen]

    POLLING DATA REVEALS LITTLE

    In an interview published in the July 15 issue of Yezhenedelny zhurnal, director Sergei Khaikin of the research center Validata discussed the results of the center's recent polls in Chechnya,

    NONCHALANCE IN THE RUSSIAN CAPITAL

    The experience of cities such as London or Tel Aviv has shown that one can get used to terrorism. Most people go about their daily business almost as if the

    MAJOR SECURITY SWEEP LAUNCHED IN GROZNY

    Six federal servicemen were killed and eight wounded in a firefight in the Chechen highlands' Vedeno district last weekend, the news agency Interfax reported on July 21. A Russian military

    MOSCOW SETTING SIGHTS ON UKRAINE?

    Is Russia laying the groundwork for the future destabilization of Ukraine? Russian nationalists will find ample justification in a July 17 article in Izvestia, which claims that the Crimea has

    THE COST OF EDUCATION

    Students from Chechnya have to pay even higher bribes than others for admission to Russia's universities, charged a former Chechen official now living in Moscow. Ex-foreign minister Shamil Beno told

    EXTRADITION CASE TAKES UNEXPECTED TURN…

    Russia's secret police tortured Chechen prisoner Dukh-Bakha Dushuev to make him help fabricate a phony criminal case against a Chechen diplomat, Dushuev charged in a July 24 appearance before a

    SUICIDE BOMBINGS ORGANIZED BY MYSTERIOUS WOMAN?

    Are the suicide bombers who have been terrorizing Russia tightly organized in a unified command led by a mysterious woman known as "Black Fatima?" Russia's security agencies have been promoting

    LATEST ATTACK SUGGESTS NOT

    As if to support Politikovskaya's contention that the suicide attacks are largely uncoordinated, a female bomber mounted another strikingly amateurish attack on July 27. This one occurred at a base

    BUDANOV VERDICT ELICITS MIXED RESPONSE

    The guilty verdict pronounced last week on Yury Budanov is a gift to Akhmad Kadyrov's election campaign--but a threat to Vladimir Putin's. Human rights advocates are welcoming the verdict as

    ELECTION MANEUVERING QUICKENS

    Does Malik Saidullaev have a serious chance of becoming president of Chechnya? The Moscow-based Chechen businessman, whose personal fortune is estimated by some at US$500 million, is the first heavyweight

    ELITE COMMANDOS VENT FRUSTRATIONS

    The rebel guerrillas are still in such a strong position in Chechnya--whether from genuine popular support, or from their ability to intimidate, or from some combination of the two--that they

    COMMENTATOR SEES NO END TO CHECHEN CONFLICT

    The noted Moscow political commentator Andrei Piontkovsky offered a gloomy forecast in a July 25 round-table discussion hosted by the website Vremyamn.ru. "After the [Chechen] elections, events in Chechnya will

    MAKING ENDS MEET

    Far from disappearing, federal checkpoints in Chechnya have become an essential part of the family economy of the Russian troops who staff them. Mainat Abdulaeva, Grozny correspondent for Novaya gazeta,

    QUESTIONS SURROUND MOZDOK BOMBING

    Are the Russian authorities lying about the number of casualties caused by the August 1 bombing of the military hospital in Mozdok? According to the official figures, widely disseminated in

    SHELL GAME OVER CHECHEN COMMAND

    On July 29 the Russian authorities conducted a well-publicized ceremony--one that they had begun advertising months beforehand--marking the transfer of top command over the war in Chechnya from the Federal

    QUID PRO QUO?

    In an area that occupies less than 1 percent of Russia's territory, why have the federal forces not been able to track down Chechnya's separatist leaders--especially those who openly admit

    PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN HEATS UP

    Akhmad Kadyrov's least surprising announcement of recent months was the one that finally came last week: He is now officially in the running to become president of Chechnya. It was

    VILLAGERS PROTEST KIDNAPPING

    On August 2 a 16-year-old Chechen girl, Elza Katsaeva, was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in the village of Samashki. Two days later about a thousand residents of the village, mostly

    KILLING GOES ON

    A Russian marine died and two more were wounded in an August 3 firefight with rebel guerrillas, the news agency Interfax reported on August 4. The rebels ambushed the marines'

    NO CHECHENS AT GUANTANAMO BAY

    As Chechnya Weekly and others have already reported, not one Chechen is among the 600 prisoners being held by the U.S. government at its Guantanamo Bay naval base on suspicion

    RUSSIANS WANT END TO WAR

    A new opinion poll released on August 5 by the All-Russia Center for the Study of Public Opinion found that only 28 percent of Russians support continuation of the war

    ELECTION PLOTTING INTENSIFIES

    Will the Kremlin use Chechnya's October 5 presidential election to rid itself of the troublesome Akhmad Kadyrov? The August holiday period, often a time for behind the scenes political maneuvering

    LITTLE PROGRESS IN MOZDOK BOMBING CASE

    As of August 12, reports from the Russian authorities regarding their efforts to solve the August 1 terrorist bombing in Mozdok continued to be full of assurances--but these assurances remained

    BASAEV DESIGNATED A THREAT

    On August 8 the U.S. State Department published in the Federal Register an official determination that Shamil Basaev "has committed, or poses a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism

    SHORT SENTENCE FOR BUDANOV?

    Yury Budanov, the former Russian tank commander found guilty on July 27 of murdering a Chechen girl (see Chechnya Weekly, July 31), may go free long before the end of

    LINES BLUR IN CHECHNYA

    The August 12 issue of Izvestia includes a long, detailed interview by correspondent Vadim Rechkalov with a former rebel guerrilla who accepted the Putin-Kadyrov amnesty two months ago. Aslan Elmurzaev,

    REFUGEES FACE CONTINUED HARDSHIPS

    Nearly 800 refugees at Ingushetia's Bella camp, near the border with Chechnya, sent an open letter on August 8 to Ingush President Murat Zyazikov. In it, the refugees protested a

    HUMANITARIAN GROUP SLAMS RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

    Medecins Sans Frontieres issued a strong protest on August 12 over the lack of progress in a case involving its kidnapped volunteer--Arjan Erkel. Dr. Morten Rostrup, head of MSF, called

    GENERAL ADMITS DIFFICULTIES PERSIST…

    Major General Yury Rozhin, head of the FSB's directorate for Chechnya, told Dmitry Semenov of the Kremlin-controlled website Strana.ru in an interview published on August 12 that although he considers

    …AS ARMY UPS CONSTRUCTION TROOPS IN CHECHNYA

    The Russian authorities continue to assert that the conflict in Chechnya is being "normalized" and demilitarized; that is, they claim the conflict is being turned into a police operation rather

    CONFLICT SAID TO REFLECT LOST RUSSIAN CENTURY

    The Moscow political commentator Andrei Piontkovsky wrote in an August 8 commentary for the Politcom.ru website that "Russia Has Lost the War in Chechnya," and that "the attitude of Russian

    CRISIS FOR REFUGEES IN INGUSHETIA

    Pressure against Chechen refugees in Ingushetia has intensified further in recent days, Aleksandr Podrabinek of the newspaper Russky kurier reported on August 18. Hooligans are throwing rocks at the tents

    SECOND ROUND OF VOTING NOW EXPECTED

    The election authorities were still predicting that none of the candidates would get an absolute majority of the votes on October 5, the Kremlin-controlled website Strana.ru reported on August 15--and

    KHASBULATOV DROPS OUT OF RACE

    In an August 18 article for the newspaper Russky kurier, Zoya Svetova suggested that it may be no accident that Ruslan Khasbulatov's decision to drop out of the race coincided

    MORE BAD NEWS FOR KADYROV: GANTEMIROV DEFECTS

    Zoya Svetova of Russky kurier suggested on August 18 that the election's outcome, which until recently seemed to be a guaranteed victory for Kadyrov, is now uncertain. The most shocking

    INTERNATIONAL ELECTION OBSERVERS?

    The Russian media are publishing stories claiming that about 150 international observers will monitor the October election--uncritically repeating a statement made by Anatoly Popov, the Moscow-recognized administration's prime minister and

    CHECHEN MODERATE OUSTED

    One of the most visible moderates in Aslan Maskhadov's separatist government has resigned, and at least one veteran observer of the war in Chechnya is interpreting this as a victory

    ISLAMIC EXTREMISM GROWING

    The influence of Islamic extremism is growing among the rebel guerrillas, one of the most seasoned journalists specializing in the Chechen wars has concluded from a recent visit to rebel

    BOMBING ARREST TRIGGERS PROTEST

    Two weeks after the August 1 terrorist bombing of the Mozdok military hospital, there is still only one person who has been formally arrested. He is Dr. Artur Arakelyan, the

    NO LETUP IN GUERRILLA ATTACKS

    A source in the Kadyrov administration told the Associated Press on August 16 that some fifteen federal soldiers had been killed and another forty wounded in attacks by separatist guerrillas

    FRESH CHARGES AGAINST KADYROV POLICE

    The mainstream Moscow media are intensifying their accusations that "former" rebel fighters now serving in the Kadyrov administration's police continue to cooperate with the separatist guerrillas. According an article by

    AMNESTY GENERATES SKEPTICISM

    Why have so few rebel guerrillas taken advantage of the amnesty offered by the Putin administration? The experience of one village in the southern highlands is revealing. Zulai Visingirieva, head

    STATE TELEVISION CRITICIZED

    Several leading Chechens have criticized what some call the "black P.R." of Chechen state television, which has given free reign to pro-Kadyrov propaganda while excluding critics such as Aslan Aslakhanov.

    CANDIDATE DROPS OUT OF PRESIDENTIAL RACE

    In a surprising announcement, Khusein Dzhabrailov has withdrawn his candidacy for the presidency of Chechnya. The Moscow businessman, who had managed to win such potent endorsements as those of Bislan

    DISTRESS OVER REFUGEES INTENSIFIES

    Concerns are mounting over the humanitarian crisis in Ingushetia, triggered by continuing reports that the Russian and Ingush authorities are forcing refugees to return to Chechnya against their will. A

    FINANCING THE KADYROV CAMPAIGN

    According to journalist Anna Politkovskaya's sources in Grozny, the role of Ramzan Kadyrov in his father's administration is in some ways reminiscent of that played in the 1990s by Boris

    THREAT ALLEGEDLY DIRECTED AT SAIDULLAEV

    One of the bodyguards of presidential candidate Malik Saidullaev claims that he was kidnapped last month by the Kadyrov administration's gunmen, who then tortured him until he pretended to agree

    AMNESTY PROGRAM SAID TO BE A FAILURE

    By September 1, the final day for rebel guerrillas to surrender voluntarily under the amnesty proclaimed in June, it was abundantly clear that the amnesty program was a failure. The

    OPERATIONAL LEADERSHIP CHANGE IN CHECHNYA

    September 1 marked the final, formal transition in the leadership of federal operations against the guerrillas in Chechnya from the FSB to the Interior Ministry. Nikolai Patrushev, head of the

    STRICKEN FAMILY DEPARTS RUSSIA

    The parents and siblings of a Chechen girl murdered by a Russian tank officer have reluctantly become refugees in Norway. Fearing retaliation from ex-Colonel Yury Budanov's supporters, the Kungaev family

    WIDESPREAD DRUG USE IN CHECHNYA

    Unofficial estimates put the number of drug users in Chechnya at about 20,000, according to the August 28 Caucasus News Update of the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting

    SECURITY AGENCIES AT LOGGERHEADS OVER ELECTION?

    Writing in the August 28 issue of Novaya gazeta, Anna Politkovskaya envisioned a scenario in which rival federal security agencies might end up backing rival presidential candidates--with the FSB behind

    SOLZHENITSYN ON THE CHECHENS

    As the cycle of revenge and counter-revenge between Chechens and Russians continues to spiral downward, it is worthwhile to pause for a longer view. The greatest Russian nationalist of the

    LOSSES CONTINUE FOR FEDERAL FORCES

    A mine exploded on the outskirts of Grozny on August 21, destroying a vehicle in a federal military convoy and killing nine Russian troops, a Russian military source told Interfax

    NO EVIDENCE OF CHECHENS IN AFGHANISTAN

    Have Chechen separatist guerrillas been fighting against the United States and its allies in places such as Iraq or Afghanistan--and if so, how many have been captured or killed? The

    …DZABRAILOV WITHDRAWAL STILL A MYSTERY

    Dzhabrailov still has given no clear explanation of his awkward withdrawal--even in a long radio interview he granted with Ekho Moskvy on September 4. Not surprisingly, he rejected the interpretation

    KADYROV CONSOLIDATES CONTROL OF MEDIA

    Dzhabrailov's September 2 departure from the presidential race left Bislan Gantemirov, his most prominent supporter in Grozny, in an untenable position. Gantemirov had taken the risky step of publicly endorsing

    SECRET PEACEKEEPING MISSION ENDS IN BLOODSHED

    Anna Politkovskaya is among those observers who believe that Kadyrov has not yet wrapped up his election victory and that the Kremlin is still keeping other options available. In a

    RIGHTS GROUPS DENOUNCE ELECTION

    The leaders of Russia's main human rights organizations announced on September 9 that they will not lend legitimacy to the October 5 presidential election by sending observers. Svetlana Gannushkina of

    LANDMINE DEATHS UP SHARPLY

    Landmines killed more people in Chechnya last year than in any country in the world, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines announced on September 9. Chechnya also had one of

    PUTIN LEVELING ACCUSATIONS AT U.S. OFFICIALS?

    In a remarkably under reported statement, Russian President Vladimir Putin has apparently accused lower echelon U.S. government officials of meeting with known Chechen terrorists. On September 20, a few days

    ELECTION WITHDRAWALS CONTINUE TO PUZZLE

    Political observers are still speculating about what lay behind the Putin administration's sudden decision earlier this month to persuade or force every serious opposition candidate out of Chechnya's presidential race.

    MINOR CANDIDATES LEFT STANDING

    With the forced removal or "voluntary" withdrawal from the presidential race of Khusein Dzhabrailov, Aslambek Aslakhanov and Malik Saidullaev--the three serious rivals to the de facto incumbent Akhmad Kadyrov--and also

    CORRUPTION MARS COMPENSATION PROGRAM

    The chances of ordinary Chechens receiving anything resembling fair compensation for their homes and other property destroyed by Russian carpet bombing and other military action now appear increasingly remote. Before

    INDEPENDENT OBSERVERS TO AVOID ELECTION

    It seems increasingly likely that no credible, genuinely independent watchdogs will be present as election observers for Chechnya's rigged October 5 presidential election. The Moscow news agency Novosti put the

    WARNINGS SOUNDED OVER CHECHEN ELECTION

    According to Anna Politkovskaya, even some officials in Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) secret police are privately admitting that the likely result of Akhmad Kadyrov's now inevitable victory in Chechnya's

    NEW QUESTIONS ABOUT ROLE OF DOUBLE AGENT

    Anna Politkovskaya also continues to believe that Khanpash Terkibaev, a double agent, manipulated last October's Chechen terrorist raid in Moscow to advance the interests of the Russian secret services. She

    EXPLANATION FOR SUICIDE BOMBINGS OFFERED

    What is it that motivates Chechen women to become suicide bombers, and what might persuade them to stop? Anna Politkovskaya told Chechnya Weekly on September 15 that "it is not

    DOCTOR SPEAKS OF CHECHNYA STRUGGLES

    Dr. Khasin Baiev is a heroic Chechen physician who for years defied threats from extremists on both sides to care for federal and rebel wounded alike. At the September 16

    DISMISSAL OF MAIGOV IS DOWNPLAYED

    During one of her conversations with Chechnya Weekly in Washington, Anna Politkovskaya said that last month's firing of Salambek Maigov--he had been the separatist Maskhadov government's representative in Moscow--does not

    ELECTION LOOKS EVER LESS CREDIBLE

    In another sign that the anti-Kadyrov faction inside the Putin administration is still alive despite the heavy-handed transformation of Chechnya's election campaign into a one man race, the pro-Kremlin website

    MAGAS BLAST COULD CARRY SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES

    The September 15 suicide-bombing of the FSB headquarters in Magas, the capital of Ingushetia, produced heavier casualties outside the building than within it, apparently because the car-bomb exploded before the

    NEW BOOK ON CHECHNYA IS PUBLISHED

    Yet another new book has appeared on Chechnya, this one from a veteran Moscow correspondent for a German newspaper. Der Krieg im Schatten. Ru§land und Tschetschenien ("The War in the

    NO WELCOME MAT FOR KADYROV

    U.S. officials evidently gave Akhmad Kadyrov a cold reception during his recent visit to the United States as part of Russia's delegation to the United Nations. Even a September 29

    PRE-ELECTION POLLING DATA PUBLISHED

    With only days to go before Chechnya's presidential election, the polling service Validata has published the results of a survey conducted in the last week of September. The poll found

    SUMMIT GIVES PUTIN WHAT HE WANTS

    President George W. Bush's remarks at his joint press conference with Vladimir Putin closing their recent Camp David summit meeting largely gave the latter what he wanted on Chechnya. The

    RIGHTS GROUP REPORTS CONTINUING ABUSES

    Just before Vladimir Putin's and Akhmad Kadyrov's recent visit to the United States, the independent New York-based monitoring organization Human Rights Watch released a twenty-eight-page report on "Russian Abuses in

    HOSTAGE APPEAL IS POSTED

    The website Grani.ru has published a digital video received by e-mail from rebel guerrillas who are holding a civilian employee of the Kadyrov administration as a hostage. Nadezhda Pogosovaya, an

    INTELLIGENCE FLOWS TO THE REBELS

    An anonymous Russian officer gave Moscow correspondent Paul Quinn-Judge of Time magazine a vivid example of the distrust between his colleagues and the Kadyrov administration's forces, as reported in that

    REPORTS SUGGEST WIDESPREAD ELECTION DAY ABUSES

    The experience of last March's referendum taught international election observers a bitter lesson: The Kremlin will use their mere presence at such a rigged affair as a seal of legitimacy,

    VOTE BRINGS FEARS OF VIOLENCE TO COME

    Officers of Moscow's special services are increasingly fearful of a bloody new civil war within Chechnya, wrote correspondent Julius Strauss of London's Daily Telegraph on October 6. According to Strauss,

    FRENCH NEWSPAPER PUBLISHES MASKHADOV INTERVIEW

    On October 4 the Paris daily Le Monde published the text of an exclusive interview with Aslan Maskhadov, president of Chechnya's underground separatist government. Maskhadov's answers came in the form

    REFUGEES FACE CONTINUING HARDSHIPS

    Russian and Ingush authorities have reached a compromise with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, enabling the former to close one of Ingushetia's five camps for Chechen refugees. According

    CHECHEN FILM FESTIVAL ENCOUNTERS OBSTACLES

    The organizers of a film festival on Chechnya have accused the Russian secret services of intimidating a movie theater in downtown Moscow into canceling its previous agreement to host the

    MILITARY VOTING YIELDS UNEXPECTED RESULT

    Among the few surprises to come from Chechnya's election day on October 5, so far the most interesting is the revelation that the Russian troops who took part voted overwhelmingly

    MORE ELECTION IRREGULARITIES NOTED

    Evidence continues to mount that the October 5 election was massively rigged. BBC correspondent Steve Rosenberg participated in an election day tour of Chechnya that was organized and closely controlled

    KADYROV SEEKS TO BUILD ON TRIUMPH

    Clearly attempting to exploit his post-election-day momentum, Kadyrov told a Moscow press conference that all Interior Ministry troops in Chechnya should be organized under a single command--with those of the

    REFUGEES IN NO RUSH TO RETURN TO CHECHNYA

    A visit to Georgia's Pankisi Gorge by officials of the Putin and Kadyrov administrations, which occurred just before the October 5 election, produced strikingly modest results. The visitors failed to

    ELECTION RESOLVES FEW TENSIONS IN CHECHNYA

    The purging from Chechnya's government structures of supporters of the main opposition candidates in the recent election has apparently intensified since October 5. Marina Perevozkina of Moskovsky komsomolets reported in

    RUSSIAN COMBAT DEATHS: MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS

    The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies has found that there were more Russian casualties in the past year in Chechnya than there had been in the previous year. Nevertheless,

    KADYROV IS INAUGURATED

    Akhmad Kadyrov's October 19 inauguration as Chechnya's newly "elected" president was remarkable for several symbolic gestures. These gestures, Zoya Svetova suggested in the October 20 issue of Russky kurier, might

    CONTRACT SOLDIERS ARE DISCHARGED

    The Russian army has discharged for drunkenness or disorderly behavior scores of the "kontraktniki" soldiers serving as volunteers in Chechnya, the radio station Ekho Moskvy reported on October 20. Citing

    NEW QUESTIONS RAISED ABOUT HOSTAGE TAKING

    The October 20 issue of Novaya gazeta published a detailed description of a video that casts further doubt on the official version of events that happened a year ago, when

    MASSIVE MILITARY EFFORT IN CHECHNYA IS ALLEGED

    The area in and around Chechnya has the largest troop concentrations in Europe, according to an October 20 article by Vladimir Mukhin in Nezavisimaya gazeta. This article should be treated

    CANDIDATES GEAR UP FOR PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION

    Though Chechens have barely had a chance to catch their breath since the October 5 presidential election, campaign maneuvers are already underway for the all-Russian parliamentary elections in December--which will

    CHECHEN SECURITY SWEEP VICTIMS STILL ALIVE?

    Many of the Chechens who have disappeared in "zachistki" security sweeps are still alive in Russian captivity, in the view of human rights activist Kheda Saratova. The head of the

    SUGGESTION THAT KREMLIN COULD OPEN TALKS WITH REBELS

    Sanobar Shermatova of Moskovskie novosti told Chechnya Weekly in an October 20 telephone interview that Russian President Vladimir Putin may decide to launch negotiations with the rebels even before Russia's

    …AS IS THE DEATH OF A SECOND

    Just as mysterious as Menkeev--and perhaps even more crucial to understanding the tragedy at the Dubrovka theater--is the figure of Ruslan Elmurzaev, alias "Abubakar." Indeed, several eyewitnesses believe that he

    ESTIMATE OF TOTAL DUBROVKA DEATH TOTAL RISES

    How many hostages did the Russian special services finally kill with the powerful gas that they used while storming the theater last October? Some independent estimates made toward the end

    KREMLIN CHALLENGED OVER DUBROVKA

    A coalition of Russian human rights organizations, led by well-known activist Lev Ponomarev, has announced that it intends to file charges with the European Court of Human Rights against the

    RUSSIAN TROOP LEVEL IN CHECHNYA TO REMAIN CONSTANT?

    Official announcements about the reduction of federal troop strength in Chechnya have repeatedly turned out to be exaggerated, and apparently that pattern is continuing. Col. Ilya Shabalkin, a spokesman attached

    MOSCOW ABANDONS ETHNIC RUSSIANS IN GROZNY

    The city of Grozny, founded as a Russian fortress nearly two centuries ago, now has only a tiny minority of ethnic Russian civilians. Unlike their Chechen neighbors, most of these

    A COLD SHOULDER FOR KADYROV

    In addition to those already mentioned in Chechnya Weekly (see the October 23 issue), Akhmad Kadyrov's October 19 inauguration included yet another blow to his prestige. Our contributor Zaindi Choltaev

    AUSHEV COMMENTS ON PROBLEMS IN CAUCASUS

    In an interview published on October 23, the former president of Ingushetia sharply questioned Akhmad Kadyrov's legitimacy. "Nothing has been changed" by Chechnya's recent presidential election, Ruslan Aushev told Andrei

    POLL HIGHLIGHTS HOSTILITY TOWARD CHECHENS

    The average Russian may be weary of the Chechen war, but that does not mean that he likes Chechens. On the contrary, a recent poll suggests that Russians now have

    WHAT DO KREMLIN CHANGES MEAN FOR CHECHNYA?

    The recent upheavals in the Kremlin, including the resignation of Aleksandr Voloshin as President Vladimir Putin's chief of staff, could portend major changes in the Kremlin's policies on Chechnya. Voloshin

    DISSIDENT LAWYER JAILED ON TRUMPED UP CHARGES

    The use of ostensibly criminal cases to pursue political objectives, a well-established tactic in both Soviet and post-Soviet Russia, is apparently being used again to silence those who challenge the

    KREMLIN TRIES TO DISCREDIT HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS

    How many Chechens have disappeared in "zachistki" security sweeps by pro-Moscow or pro-Kadyrov gunmen? Abdul-Khakim Sultygov, Vladimir Putin's special representative for human rights in Chechnya, said last week that independent

    LITTLE PROGRESS IN COMPENSATION PAYMENTS

    An October 29 article by Said Bitsoev in Novye izvestia noted the excruciatingly slow rate of progress in what is supposed to be one of Putin's and Kadyrov's top priorities:

    WHAT DO KREMLIN CHANGES MEAN FOR CHECHNYA?

    The recent upheavals in the Kremlin, including the resignation of Aleksandr Voloshin as President Vladimir Putin's chief of staff, could portend major changes in the Kremlin's policies on Chechnya. Voloshin

    KREMLIN TRIES TO DISCREDIT HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS

    How many Chechens have disappeared in "zachistki" security sweeps by pro-Moscow or pro-Kadyrov gunmen? Abdul-Khakim Sultygov, Vladimir Putin's special representative for human rights in Chechnya, said last week that independent

    LITTLE PROGRESS IN COMPENSATION PAYMENTS

    An October 29 article by Said Bitsoev in Novye izvestia noted the excruciatingly slow rate of progress in what is supposed to be one of Putin's and Kadyrov's top priorities:

    UNEXPECTED SIGNALS FROM KADYROV

    In a reversal of his previous policies, Akhmad Kadyrov has announced his willingness to negotiate with the president of Chechnya's underground separatist government. As reported by Andrei Riskin in a

    ZAKAEV TAKES HARD LINE TOWARD KREMLIN

    Chechen diplomat Akhmed Zakaev, fresh from his stunning victory over the Russian authorities in a London court (see below), now explicitly rejects the possibility of revived negotiations with the Putin

    ALL EYES ON SPECIAL TREATY PROPOSAL

    An indicator that Kremlin-watchers will be monitoring during the next few weeks: Will Kadyrov succeed in the near future in getting Vladimir Putin's signature onto a special treaty allocating powers

    KADYROV AND SILOVIKI CONTINUE TO CLASH?

    An article by Andrei Pilipchuk in the November 12 issue of Krasnaya zvezda ("Red Star"), the Russian military's newspaper, suggests that relations between the Kadyrov administration and Russia's security agencies

    QUESTIONS HANG OVER RUSSIAN CAPTIVES

    Did the Russian government pay a ransom, or possibly release captured rebel guerrillas, in order to win the release last week of two officials from its own procuracy who had

    AUTHORITIES SUPPRESS INFORMATION ABOUT 1999 BOMBINGS

    Russian authorities may have even more reason than previously suspected for launching a bogus criminal case against the dissident lawyer Mikhail Trepashkin (see Chechnya Weekly, November 6 and November 13).

    LORD JUDD SHARPENS CRITICISM OF KREMLIN

    Britain's Lord Frank Judd has been moving toward a stronger anti-Kremlin position on Chechnya ever since he resigned in the spring from his position as the Council of Europe's chief

    MUSA MURADOV TO SPEAK IN NEW YORK

    Readers of Chechnya Weekly in the New York area will be interested in a briefing by Musa Muradov hosted by the Committee to Protect Journalists, scheduled for November 24. Muradov,

    GROWING CONCERNS IN MOSCOW ABOUT KADYROV

    Akhmad Kadryov spends relatively little time in his presidential office in Grozny, according to a report by Anna Politkovskaya in the November 20 issue of Novaya gazeta. His life is

    RUSSIAN COMMANDOS FACE TRIAL FOR MURDERS

    Could the trial of GRU spetsnaz commandos for murdering Chechen civilians become another Budanov case (see Chechnya Weekly, July 31)? In a November 20 article for Novaya gazeta, Anna Politkovskaya

    GROUPS APPEAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AID

    On November 19 several non-government organizations providing humanitarian assistance in the northern Caucasus made a joint announcement with the United Nations, appealing for US$62 million in voluntary donations for charitable

    ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS MADE ON KADYROV OFFICIALS

    According to a November 24 report in Novye izvestia, assassination attempts were mounted on three different high ranking officials of the Kadyrov administration last weekend. All three were unsuccessful. The

    PROVOCATION IN CAMPAIGN FOR PARLIAMENT SEAT?

    In a bizarre incident that may have been deliberately planned to discredit parliamentary candidate Salambek Maigov, Grozny police briefly detained a member of his campaign staff last week. Maigov, one

    WAR IN CHECHNYA BOOSTS REFUGEES SEEKING ASYLUM

    Thanks mostly to Chechnya, Russia has suddenly become the world's largest source of would-be refugees seeking political asylum in western Europe. A November 19 Radio Liberty report by Jeremy Bransten

    WINTER: THE GOOD NEWS AND THE BAD

    With winter approaching, the intensity of combat operations in Chechnya is likely to diminish. During the leafless winter the republic's forests provide the rebel guerrillas with less cover to shield

    BOOK REVIEW

    Thomas Goltz, Chechnya Diary: A War Correspondent's Story of Surviving the War in Chechnya, St. Martin's Press, New York, 2003. Reviewed by Lawrence A. Uzzell On April 7 and 8,

    GROZNY RESTORED AS CHECHEN CAPITAL.

    On April 18, the city of Grozny (Djohar) was officially declared to be once again the capital of the Chechen Republic (Kommersant, April 19). Five days later, on April 23,

    NEWSPAPER PROVIDES FRESH BESLAN DETAILS

    In a three-part series published May 24-26, Moskovsky komsomolets shed new light on the Beslan hostage tragedy based on investigative documents and testimony from officials who were involved in the

    KADYROV VERSUS GANTAMIROV: TROUBLE BREWING

    On May 28, Bislan Gantamirov, the former Grozny mayor and Chechen vice-premier, sent a letter to the federal authorities asking for protection for his family from what he characterized as

    ASSASSINATIONS CONTINUE IN DAGESTAN

    The Sharia Jamaat also claimed responsibility for the murder of Magomedzagid Varisov. On June 28, Magomedzagid Varisov, a well-known political scientist and journalist, was shot to death as he pulled

    SADULAEV ISSUES DECREES

    Chechen rebel leader Abdul-Khalim Sadulaev, who is president of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI), issued three decrees, which were published by the Kavkazcenter and Chechenpress websites on August

    CHECHEN REFUGEES FACE HARDSHIP ACROSS EUROPE

    Russian authorities flew 125 Chechen refugees on December 6 from Tbilisi, Georgia, to Makhachkala, Dagestan, where they were to be taken by bus to Chechnya, the Associated Press reported. The

    SADULAEV’S DEATH: THE OFFICIAL VERSION

    The death of Chechen separatist leader Abdul-Khalim Sadulaev was first announced by Chechen government officials on June 17. Interfax quoted Chechen government minister Muslim Khuchiev as saying that Sadulaev was

    BASAEV’S DEATH: VERSIONS ABOUND

    The circumstances surrounding the July 10 death in Ingushetia of Shamil Basaev, the Chechen rebel military commander and recently appointed vice president of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI),

    VIOLENCE PERSISTS DESPITE AMNESTY OFFER

    The death of Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basaev (Chechnya Weekly, July 14) and Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Nikolai Patrushev’s offer of amnesty to Chechnya’s rebels (Chechnya Weekly, July 20)

    REBEL ATTACKS ON THE RISE IN CHECHNYA

    Rebel attacks have increased in Chechnya over the last week. Interfax reported on September 28 that a police officer was killed and another wounded in an attack by “members of

    Ramzan Comes of Age

    Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov turned 30, the minimum age under the republic’s constitution for the post of president, on October 5. Kadyrov gave several interviews that covered a wide