Chechen Labor and Social Development Minister Magomed Vakhaev on March 22 called for a series of amendments to the republic’s constitution, including changing the age requirement for the Chechen president. “In the Constitution of the Chechen Republic there are quite a few norms, provisions, which... MORE

Nezavisimaya gazeta reported on March 22, the Chechen parliament on March 21 called on the federal authorities “to change the existing mechanism for forming and distributing profits from oil extracted on Chechen territory.” The deputies complained that revenues from the export of Chechen oil are... MORE

In his interview with Rossiiskaya gazeta published on March 22, Ramzan Kadyrov again said his government would guarantee the lives of militants who were not involved in serious crimes and are ready to lay down their weapons. “We have held talks with those who were,... MORE

The separatist Daymohk website on March 20 posted a critique of Ramzan Kadyrov’s putative revival of Islamic law in Chechnya. The author of the piece, Mayrbek Taramov, wrote: “The Russian public is suddenly worried that Kadyrov, the incumbent head of the Chechen puppet government, has... MORE

The head of Dagestan’s Botlikhsk district, Ruslan Aliev, died on March 22 from bullet wounds he received during an attack earlier in the day. Following the attack, Itar-Tass reported that Aliev and his four bodyguards had been wounded during an assassination attempt in Makhachkala. The... MORE

President Vladimir Putin signed a decree removing Khachim Shogenov as Kabardino-Balkaria’s Interior Minister, Kommersant reported on March 20. As the newspaper noted, “the first serious criticism of Gen. Shogenov came after the law enforcement organs in the summer of 2003 let Shamil Basaev, who had... 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

In Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s novel, The First Circle, which depicts events occurring in December 1949, there is a scene in which General Viktor Abakumov, Minister of State Security, pays a late-night visit to Stalin’s windowless office. At one point in their conversation, Abakumov begins to plead... MORE

The Chechen separatist Daymohk website on March 13 posted a video clip of what it said was Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov “in a bath-house scene” with prostitutes. The website said it received the clip from the “jamaat IBADULLAH” and claimed it was filmed at... MORE

Kavkazaky Uzel reported on March 15 that Chechen law enforcement was trying to track down the kidnappers of Abdul-Vakhab Akhmadov, the head of the finance department of the republic’s Ministry of Housing and Municipal Services. On March 10, the 44-year-old Akhmadov, a resident of Urus-Martan,... MORE