Latest Briefs

BRIEFS

--SAVELYEV: AS MANY AS 78 GUNMEN CARRIED OUT BESLAN RAID Yuri Savelyev, the State Duma deputy who is conducting an independent investigation into the Beslan school raid, claimed on October 12 that at least 56 and possibly as many as 78 attackers were involved in... MORE

Briefs

--ZYAZIKOV POURS COLD WATER ON CHECHEN-INGUSH REUNIFICATION Ingush President Murat Zyazikov said on October 24 that neither Ingushetia nor Chechnya needs a merger of the two republics. “I, as president of Ingushetia, one of the presidents of the Vainakh people, want to state: today, we... MORE

BRIEFS

--MORE THAN 300 SERVICEMEN HAVE GONE MISSING IN CHECHNYA The Unified Group of Forces’ deputy military prosecutor, Col. Vladimir Kalita, reported on November 1 that 376 federal servicemen have disappeared in Chechnya since 1994. “Nothing is known about their fate, but work on this is... MORE

BRIEFS

--THOUSANDS OF CHECHENS FACE FOOD AID CUTOFF United Press International reported on November 6 that nearly 250,000 people in Chechnya face a cutoff of United Nations food aid as the republic faces another bitterly cold winter and rising rates of tuberculosis. “Donor countries say the... MORE

BRIEFS

--PROSECTUORS WANT 7 YEARS FOR PRO-SEPARATIST JOURNALIST Prosecutors are demanding a seven-year prison sentence for Boris Stomakhin, editor of Radikalnaya politika and a contributing author to the pro-separatist Kavkaz-Center website, who is accused of inciting ethnic hatred and extremism in articles he wrote criticizing the... MORE

BRIEFS

- RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES REFUSE TO REGISTER DUTCH NGO Russia’s Federal Registration Service has refused to register the Stichting Russian Justice Initiative, a Dutch NGO that has represented Russians in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, in cases of abuse in Chechnya. The... MORE

BRIEFS

- CHECHEN VILLAGE REPORTEDLY BOMBARDED Interfax reported on December 1 that the military prosecutor’s office of the Combined Federal Forces in the North Caucasus was looking into reports that a village in Chechnya’s Shatoi district had been bombarded and that the attack had caused civilian... MORE

BRIEFS

- ULMAN AND CO-DEFENDANTS DENY CHARGES Captain Eduard Ulman and three other Russian military officers accused of murdering six civilians in Chechnya four years ago have admitted involvement, but denied the charges against them, RIA Navistar reported on December 12. Ulman, Lieutenant Alexander Kalagansky, Major... MORE

BRIEFS

- SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS KULAEV’S LIFE SENTENCE On December 26, Russia’s Supreme Court upheld a life sentence for Nur-Pashi Kulaev, the only militant known to have survived the 2004 Beslan school siege that killed more than 300 people. As the Associated Press noted, the court... MORE

BRIEFS

- CHECHEN REFUGEES IN AZERBAIJAN ASK FOR HELP Kavkazky Uzel reported on January 10 that the Council for Chechen Refugees in Azerbaijan had sent an appeal to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, stating that the situation surrounding Chechen refugees in Azerbaijan... MORE