-- THE PROS AND CONS OF STRONGMAN RULE IN CHECHNYA "In the economic context Russia has no interest in seeing the emergence in Chechnya of a strong new leader [who would embezzle still more federal subsidies], but on the level of politics some such figure... MORE

--MILITARY REINFORCEMENTS REPORTEDLY SENT TO CHECHNYA Is the number of new Russian reinforcements in Chechnya even greater than acknowledged by the Kremlin? In addition to new Chechen gunmen for the Kadyrov family’s private army, it would seem that substantial new forces of Russian troops are... MORE

--WHILE FEWER THAN EVER ARE WILLING TO SERVE… As in other recent years, this spring’s Russian military call-up is seeing massive draft evasion. According to a report broadcast on Radio Netherlands last week filed by its Moscow correspondent, Geert Groot Koerkamp, only 5,000 young men... MORE

--MORE REFUGEES FORCED TO LEAVE INGUSHETIA Last week yet another small settlement of Chechen refugees was on the way to being forcibly vacated. According to an article published by the Prima human-rights news agency on July 19, gas and electricity had been cut off to... MORE

--RAMZAN OFFERS FORCES FOR SOUTH OSSETIA Further solidifying his reputation as a rhetorical loose cannon, Ramzan Kadyrov told the Georgian television station Mze in an August 21 interview that he was prepared to send 5,000 gunmen from his personal security force to South Ossetia. That... MORE

--INTERNET CAFES SHUT DOWN IN INGUSHETIA The pro-Moscow administration in Ingushetia has now shut down the last surviving Internet cafes in that republic, Radio Liberty reported on October 18. The website ingushetiya.ru quoted an official as charging that the Internet had been used to spread... MORE

--NORTH OSSETIA-INGUSHETIA SITUATION SIMMERS Tensions are continuing to run high along the border between North Ossetia and Ingushetia, where a group of North Ossetian vigilantes temporarily seized a checkpoint last weekend. The vigilantes, said to include relatives of Beslan hostages, demanded that the authorities bar... MORE

--NO SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE FOR CHECHNYA? The latest version of a draft treaty on future relations between the federal government and the pro-Moscow administration in Chechnya does not include provisions for creating a special economic zone in the republic, the Interfax news agency reported on... MORE

--SUPREME COURT OVERTURNS ACQUITAL OF RUSSIAN TROOPS Russia's Supreme Court on November 11 overturned the North Caucasus Military District Court's June 29 acquittal of two officers of the Interior Ministry's Internal Troops, Yevgeny Khudyakov and Sergei Arakcheyev, who were accused of murdering three civilians in... MORE

--SERBIAN WAR CRIMINALS IN CHECHNYA? A group of Serbian terrorists was sent to Chechnya by the Russian secret services several months ago, United Press International reported on November 18. The group was headed by Rajko Kusic, a Serb paramilitary commander who is wanted by the... MORE