Chechen rebel president Abdul-Khalim Sadulaev raised his profile somewhat over the past week, naming his vice-president and making several public statements. On June 17, the rebel leadership's State Defense Committee (GKO) of Ichkeria confirmed field commander Doku Umarov as vice-president. Sadulaev had named Umarov to... MORE

The Russian Prosecutor General's Office announced on June 16 that it had completed the investigation of last July's murder of the of editor-in-chief of the Russian version of Forbes magazine Paul Klebnikov and had established that the shooting of the American journalist was ordered by... MORE

The trial in North Ossetia's Supreme Court of Nur-Pashi Kulaev, the sole participant in the Beslan school seizure to be apprehended by the authorities and put on trial, continues to prove embarrassing to the authorities. According to the Gazeta (gzt.ru) and Kommersant websites, one of... MORE

Moskovsky komsomolets published an article on June 22 marking the first anniversary of the rebel raid on Ingushetia, in which 80 people were killed, 57 of them law-enforcement personnel. The article's author, Yulia Kalinina, drew much of her information from documents from the official investigation... MORE

An increasing number of observers have been pointing to a rise in instability and a growing crisis of authority in the North Caucasus. Perhaps the most important of these observers is none other than Dmitry Kozak, the presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District. On... MORE

On June 4, a special unit of Russian troops entered the Chechen village of Borozdinovskaya in the North of the republic. "They ordered us to lie on the floor with our faces down and to pull our t-shirts over our heads," a resident of the... MORE

--KADYROV GETS ANOTHER MEDAL Chechen President Alu Alkhanov signed a decree conferring Chechnya's top award, the Order of Akhmad Kadyrov, on Ramzan Kadyrov, the late Chechen president's son and Chechnya's first deputy prime minister, Itar-Tass reported on June 18. The order, which is decorated with... MORE

--GANTAMIROV VERSUS THE CHECHEN GOVERNMENT On June 13, Chechnya's State Council and government sent a complaint to the Kremlin accusing former Chechen vice-premier Bislan Gantamirov of "trying to discredit the lawful authorities of the republic, and also the policy of the federal center." Kommersant reported... MORE

On June 14, Budennovsk marked the tenth anniversary of the hostage-taking raid led by Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basaev, Russian news agencies reported. According to MosNews, residents of the southern Russian town laid wreaths at monuments to local police officers, who were the first to... MORE

The situation in Dagestan continues to heat up. On June 14, police blocked two suspected Islamic militants in a house in the town of Khasavyurt, reportedly killing one and capturing another, the Associated Press reported. On June 8, Timur Omaev, a representative in the Novolaksk... MORE