--FEDERAL TROOPS AND LOCAL POLICE KILLED IN CHECHNYA Two federal troops were killed in Chechnya when a checkpoint on the outskirts of the village of Kurchaloi came under fire, a source in the republic's Interior Ministry told RIA Novosti on January 3. Two members of... MORE

While warlord Shamil Basaev dominates the headlines of the Chechen conflict, a lesser-known guerrilla leader has worked his way into a crucial position in the Chechen leadership. Dokku Umarov was appointed vice-president in the new administration of President Abdul-Khalim Sadulaev in June 2005. A native... MORE

President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit December 12 to Chechnya, where he addressed the first session of the republican parliament that was elected on November 27. According to the text of the speech as posted on the Kremlin's website, kremlin.ru, Putin told the Chechen... MORE

The People's Assembly, the lower house of Chechnya's newly-elected parliament, unanimously voted on December 14 to rename the capital, Grozny, in honor of Akhmad Kadyrov, the pro-Moscow president assassinated in May 2004. Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, who served as the republic's agricultural minister and a deputy prime... MORE

Russia is unhappy about the draft report prepared by a committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) concerning the human rights situation in Chechnya. Entitled "Violations of Human Rights in the Chechen Republic," the report was compiled by a member of... MORE

Chechen Security Council Secretary Rudnik Dudaev died on December 11 in a fire at his residence within the Chechen government complex in Grozny. RIA Novosti quoted Chechen Deputy Interior Minister Akhmed Dakaev as saying that same day that the fire was probably caused by a... MORE

Agence France-Presse reported on December 10 that Abu Omar al-Saif, described as "the purported spiritual leader of Arab fighters" in Chechnya, was killed in battle. The news agency quoted from "an Internet statement" that read: "Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdullah bin Saif al-Jaber al-Buaynayn al-Tamimi, also... MORE

--STRASBOURG COURT HEARS FIRST CHECHEN DISAPPEARANCE CASE The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on December 8 heard its first case involving an alleged disappearance in Chechnya, MosNews reported on December 9, citing the Associated Press. Fatima Bazorkina, who accused Russian forces of killing... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin, intermittently reminded of his stated intention of bringing peace and stability to the Chechen Republic when he rose to power in 1999, made a surprise visit to the opening of the Chechen Parliament on December 12. Putin told the Chechen Parliament:... MORE

Fresh from the victory of his loyalists in parliamentary elections, Chechen First Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov set about "expanding his republic's living space," as Nezavisimaya gazeta put it on December 6. "The accomplishment of this task has dragged on for around 15 years," he... MORE