Four federal Interior Ministry troops were killed and three wounded in an ambush by rebel fighters in Chechnya's Vedeno on May 24, Russian and Western news agencies reported. According to the online journal Gazeta, a Russian Interior Ministry unit was ambushed near the settlement of... MORE

The growing frequency of attacks in Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia and Karachaevo-Cherkessia appears to mark not only the seasonal increase in rebel activity that comes with the start of spring and return of foliage, but may also indicate growing regional coordination between rebels in furtherance of... MORE

During a May 18 meeting with members of Chechen human rights groups in Gudermes, Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov denied the existence of secret prisons in Chechnya and asked the meeting's participants to invite Russian and international human rights organizations to the republic. "I would... MORE

According to press reports, Chechnya's Ministry of National Policy, Press and Information suspended a poll commissioned by allies of Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov with the aim of highlighting his ostensible popularity in the republic and making Chechen President Alu Alkhanov look bad (Chechnya Weekly,... MORE

On May 22, Chechen President Alu Alkhanov accused the United States of having "double standards" in the war on terrorism for allowing a Jamestown Foundation conference on the North Caucasus to take place, the Associated Press reported. "The United States is conducting politics of double... MORE

--KOZAK MEETS WITH BESLAN VICTIMS' RELATIVES President Vladimir Putin's envoy to the Southern Federal District, Dmitry Kozak, met with representatives of the Mothers of Beslan and Voice of Beslan committees in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia, on May 23 (Kavkazky Uzel, May 24). Kozak told journalists after... MORE

In recent months, Russian officials have faced touch criticism from their Western counterparts. The January adoption of the draconian NGO law and its subsequent enforcement in April is often presented as irrefutable evidence that Kremlin power brokers seek to curtail individual liberty and establish a... MORE

A roadside bomb detonated on the outskirts of Nazran, Ingushetia, on May 17, killing Ingushetian Deputy Interior Minister Dzhabrail Kostoev, his two bodyguards and four civilians. Kavkazky Uzel and the Associated Press reported on May 17 that the incident took place in the Nasyr-Kortovsky municipal... MORE

Newsru.com on May 17 linked to an item posted on the Ingushetiya.ru website back on November 4, 2005, two days after the murder of Zubeir Kostoev, Dhabrail Kostoev’s younger brother, providing a different – although not necessarily contradictory – explanation for the assassination of both... MORE

Interfax reported on May 17 that five servicemen were killed and another six wounded when their convoy was attacked on the outskirts on the settlement of Niki-Khita in Chechnya’s Kurchaloi district. A Chechen law enforcement source told the news agency that the convoy, consisting of... MORE