On July 29, Chechnya’s parliament voted to propose constitutional changes that would allow President Vladimir Putin to run for a third term. According to the Associated Press, the Chechen lawmakers voted unanimously for a measure that called on the State Duma to seek the removal... MORE

On July 31, Kavkazky Uzel quoted from a report by the Memorial human rights group that stated, “Contemporary Chechnya is increasingly starting to resemble a medieval khanate.” Memorial said it had received a telephone call on July 28 from someone who reported that a severed... MORE

Two federal servicemen were killed in Ingushetia on August 3 when unidentified gunmen fired on a car carrying three members of a federal Interior Ministry mobile unit in Nazran’s Pliyevsky municipal district. According to Interfax, the third serviceman traveling in the car was unhurt. On... MORE

Chechen separatist foreign minister Akhmed Zakaev said in an interview posted on the separatist Chechenpress news agency’s website on July 28 that he would counter the new criminal case that the Russian authorities had launched against him for allegedly inciting ethnic hatred (Chechnya Weekly, July... MORE

--ABU HAFS PUT ON INTERNATIONAL WANTED LIST The Chechen prosecutor’s office put the alleged al-Qaeda envoy in the North Caucasus, Abu Hafs, on the international wanted list, Itar-Tass reported on August 2. “The involvement of Jordanian citizen Abu Hafs in crimes committed on the territory... MORE

The recent killing of Shamil Basaev was followed by the appearance of an extraordinary document called, “A Manifesto for Peace in Chechnya,” penned by Akhmed Zakaev, the foreign minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI). This document was apparently addressed to the members of... MORE

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) have been followed by a number of optimistic statements from federal and Chechen officials about... MORE

The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office announced on July 26 that it has launched a new criminal case against Akhmed Zakaev, the London-based foreign minister of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI). “In June-July 2006, Zakaev, who resides in the United Kingdom, gave several interviews,... MORE

The separatist Daymohk news agency published an interview with ChRI Foreign Minister Akhmed Zakaev on July 22 in which he was asked about the peace “manifesto” that he put forward earlier in July, which was criticized by the administration of ChRI President Dokku Umarov (Chechnya... MORE

A group of around 50 people, mostly women, gathered on July 26 in front of the offices of Chechnya’s human rights ombudsman in Grozny to protest the disappearance of relatives, Kavkazky Uzel reported. According to the website, the protesters held placards that read “Return Our... MORE