Akhmed Zakaev, the London-based foreign minister of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI), has accused Western countries of standing by as Russia passed laws allowing its agents to hunt down opponents overseas, saying these had led to the murder of former Federal Security Service... MORE

Mikhail Trepashkin, the dissident ex-Federal Security Service (FSB) officer and lawyer who tried to investigate his former employer’s links to the 1999 apartment building bombings in Moscow and other Russian cities, said in a letter that he warned Aleksandr Litvinenko four years ago that he... MORE

Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov said on December 6 that he would seek the prosecution of the commanders of federal military units responsible for the death or disappearance of civilians in Chechnya, Kavkazky Uzel reported. During a meeting with members of Chechnya’s youth parliament (representing... MORE

U.S. Ambassador to Russia William Burns was in the North Caucasus from December 4-5, visiting Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, Vladikavkaz and Beslan in North Ossetia. According to the U.S embassy in Moscow’s website, Burns met with the President of Kabardino-Balkaria, Arsen Kanokov, “and reiterated... MORE

- 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

On December 5, Ramzan Kadyrov, the prime minister of Chechnya’s pro-Russian government, triumphantly declared that “the illegal armed formations in Chechnya have almost been destroyed” and that the republic has become a part of Russia, like any other region of the country. “We have cleaned... MORE

One of the most surprising elements in the recent poisoning of the former FSB officer Aleksandr Litvinenko is his apparent deathbed conversion to Islam. At first, there seemed little reason to believe this unlikely development, but the gradual confirmation of the story has raised a... MORE

The Chechen separatist movement has denounced the killing of Aleksandr Litvinenko, the former Federal Security Service (FSB) lieutenant colonel who accused his erstwhile employers of blowing up apartment buildings in Moscow and other Russian cities in 1999 in order to create a pretext for the... MORE

A group of human rights activists have set up a “Public Committee to Protect Mikhail Trepashkin,” Kavkazky Uzel reported on November 28. Trepashkin, the dissident ex-FSB lawyer who tried to investigate his former employer’s links to the 1999 apartment building bombings, received a four-year prison... MORE

Interfax reported on November 27 that Boris Stomakhin, the editor-in-chief of the publication Radikalnaya Politika (Radical Politics) who has also been a regular contributor to the Chechen separatist Kavkaz-Center website, appealed the five-year prison sentenced handed down against him for fueling religious hatred. RIA Novosti... MORE