Chechen President Alu Alkhanov told reporters in Moscow on June 6 that work on the treaty delimiting powers between Moscow and Chechnya is nearly completed. However, Kommersant reported the following day that the Kremlin had forced the Chechen side to give up on one of... MORE

An article published in Nezavisimaya gazeta on June 6 declared straightforwardly that Dagestan is becoming "a second Chechnya." Attacks against the staff of law-enforcement agencies are becoming more frequent in Dagestan than in Chechnya, the newspaper stated, pointing to the incident in Khasavyurt on June... MORE

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed on June 2 that Russia has proof that Chechens were involved in the bloodshed in the southeastern Uzbek city of Andijan on May 13. "We have information that Islamic extremists, structures of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, remnants of... MORE

On June 1, Andreas Gross, PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) deputy chairman and Special Rappateur on Chechnya, launched an unexpectedly strong critique of Russian policy towards the Chechen republic in an interview with Tages Anzeiger newspaper. Gross insisted that only real autonomy... MORE

--IVANOV DEFENDS ULMAN VERDICT On June 6, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov defended last month's acquittal by a Rostov jury of GRU Captain Eduard Ulman and three subordinates on charges of murdering six Chechen civilians in January 2002. Ivanov also attacked Russia's chief military prosecutor, Colonel-General... MORE

Kavkazky Uzel reported on May 30 that six people had been kidnapped or otherwise disappeared in Chechnya over the previous several days. The website quoted a Chechen law-enforcement source as saying that a local resident of the town of Samashki was abducted by an armed... MORE

Writing in the May 30 edition of Novaya gazeta, Anna Politkovskaya, the bi-weekly's special correspondent covering Chechnya, compared the situation over the past few weeks in Chechnya and Ingushetia to 1937, the high point of Stalin's terror. She also said the rash of kidnappings in... MORE

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Alvaro Gil-Robles told reporters in Moscow after meeting with President Vladimir Putin on May 27 that he would continue to insist that disappearances in Chechnya be put to an end and those responsible for them punished, Itar-Tass reported.... MORE

Kavkazcenter reported on May 29 that an "official delegation of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria headed by Umar Khanbiyev, the minister of health of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and the general representative of the president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in foreign countries,... MORE

Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basaev claimed responsibility for the power failure that hit large sections of Moscow and surrounding regions on May 25. "Our subversive groups have dealt a severe blow to one of the most vitally important systems of the Russian empire," Basaev said... MORE