--150,000 CHECHEN REFUGEES IN EUROPE As many as 150,000 Chechen refugees are in Europe, Kavkazky Uzel reported on January 18, citing Prague Watchdog. According to the website, while the exact number of Chechen refugees in Europe is unknown because they are categorized simply as Russian... MORE

--TREPASHKIN PUT IN PUNISHMENT CELL Newsru.com reported on January 19 that Mikhail Trepashkin, the former FSB colonel who subsequently charged that the Russian security services were behind the 1999 apartment building bombings and was convicted on charges of revealing state secrets, had been placed in... MORE

--FOUR CHECHEN REBELS JAILED FOR INGUSHETIA RAID On February 1, Ingushetia’s Supreme Court sentenced four Chechens to 17 years in prison for involvement in the June 2004 armed attack led by Chechen separatist field commander Shamil Basaev on police and government targets in Ingushetia, which... MORE

--MILITANTS KILLED IN DAGESTAN Two alleged militants died in a shoot-out with security forces in Dagestan's Caspian Sea port of Kaspiisk, Interfax reported on February 7. Security forces reportedly fired on the home in which they were holed up with cannon and flame-throwers mounted on... MORE

--INTERIOR MINISTRY FORCES ATTACKED IN INGUSHETIA An attack on interior ministry troops in Ingushetia killed one and injured four, RIA Novosti reported on February 12. According to Ingushetia's Interior Ministry, the attack occurred on the evening of February 11 in the Suzhensky district village of... MORE

--NEW LEADER IN DAGESTAN Dagestan's parliament on February 20 voted overwhelmingly to confirm its former speaker, Mukhu Aliev, as the republic's first president following the surprise February 16 resignation of Magomedali Magomedov, its long-standing leader. Magomedov stepped down one day after meeting with President Vladimir... MORE

--ZYAZIKOV'S FATHER-IN-LAW KIDNAPPED Interfax reported on March 1 that law enforcement agencies had identified a group of suspects who could have been involved in abducting Ingush legislator Magomed Chakhkiev, the father-in-law of Ingush President Murat Zyazikov. Ingush Interior Minster Beslan Khamkhoev told the news agency... MORE

--FEDERAL SERVICEMEN KILLED IN REBEL ATTACKS Agence France-Presse, citing a source inside Chechnya’s pro-Moscow administration, reported that one Russian serviceman and two Chechen policemen were killed on March 2 in 11 rebel attacks carried out across Chechnya that day. The Russian serviceman was killed and... MORE

--BABITSKY DETAINED Radio Liberty correspondent Andrei Babitsky was questioned for six hours by the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office in connection with his interview last year with Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basaev (see Chechnya Weekly, August 3, 2005), as well as his relation with “leaders of... MORE

--BODIES OF FOUR MISSING VILLAGERS DISCOVERED The Nazran-based Council of Non-Governmental Organizations reported on March 20 that the bodies of four men had been discovered on the outskirts of the village of Novye Atagi on March 15. Village residents said the bodies had been left... MORE