Following her visit to Chechnya and Ingushetia, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour visited North Ossetia, including Beslan, where she laid a wreath at the memorial to the more than 330 people who died in the September 2004 school hostage siege, Interfax reported... MORE

--NEW LEADER IN DAGESTAN Dagestan's parliament on February 20 voted overwhelmingly to confirm its former speaker, Mukhu Aliev, as the republic's first president following the surprise February 16 resignation of Magomedali Magomedov, its long-standing leader. Magomedov stepped down one day after meeting with President Vladimir... MORE

Introduction In a bold attempt to reassert Russian influence in the Middle East, Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued an invitation for leaders of the Palestinian Hamas movement to visit Moscow in early March. The meetings will mark a break with the rest of the... MORE

The separatist Chechenpress website on February 11 posted a video of separatist president Abdul-Khalim Sadulaev reading a statement in Chechen. In the statement, which was credited to the Daymohk information agency and accompanied by a written Russian-language translation, Sadulaev said he wanted to "clear up... MORE

In an interview with Kommersant-Vlast published on February 13, Chechnya's first deputy prime minister, who is currently serving as acting prime minister, spoke on a variety subjects, including his political ambitions and his ban on Danish aid organizations in Chechnya in response to the controversy... MORE

A member of the Stavropol Krai administration's anti-terrorist commission, Aleksandr Bondarenko, told RIA Novosti on February 10 that the militants who were killed in fighting in Tukui-Mekteb, a village in Stavropol Krai's Neftekumsky district, were members of an ethnic Nogai battalion that has been operating... MORE

The separatist Daymohk news agency on February 13 carried a statement by the rebel movement's foreign ministry condemning the decision by "the occupying authorities" to ban the Danish Refugee Council's activities in Chechnya (see Chechnya Weekly, February 9). "For many years of the continuing Russian-Chechen... MORE

The Jerusalem Post reported on February 13 that Israeli government officials have been circulating a document putatively "showing Hamas' links to Chechen terrorists," in an attempt "to influence Russian public opinion against President Vladimir Putin's overtures to Hamas" – a reference to the Russian president's... MORE

--INTERIOR MINISTRY FORCES ATTACKED IN INGUSHETIA An attack on interior ministry troops in Ingushetia killed one and injured four, RIA Novosti reported on February 12. According to Ingushetia's Interior Ministry, the attack occurred on the evening of February 11 in the Suzhensky district village of... MORE

On April 13, 1794, the Chechen sheikh Mansour (Ushurma) Aldinsky ended his life at the Shlisselburg Castle. In his 30 plus years, he managed to achieve what no one before him had ever achieved. He became an example for many generations of heroes after him.... MORE