A gun battle between police and suspected Islamic militants took place in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, on April 29, when a police patrol stopped a car for a document check. Kavkazky Uzel quoted an "informed source" as saying that the car was stopped near... MORE

The authorities in Ingushetia on April 30 broke up a demonstration in Nazran by President Murat Zyazikov's political opponents. The oppositionists had vowed to go ahead with the protest despite the fact that Nazran Mayor Sultan Sultygov had on April 29 refused to grant the... MORE

The assassination of Aslan Maskhadov was received in Moscow with an outburst of triumph and relief: "Well, now no one in Russia or the West will pester us with pleas to hold talks, as there is no one with whom to conduct them." The job... MORE

--SERVICEMEN GO ON TRIAL AGAIN FOR WAR CRIMES On May 3, the North Caucasus District Military Court began hearing the case of two Interior Ministry internal troops officers accused murdering Chechen civilians. Rossiiskaya gazeta reported on May 4 that Yevgeny Khudyakov and Sergei Arakcheyev were... MORE

President Putin touched on the North Caucasus generally and Chechnya specifically in his annual State of the Nation address, which he delivered to the Russian parliament on April 25. "I hope for energetic work to strengthen security in the southern part of Russia and firmly... MORE

On April 20, the Council of Europe released a report by its Commissioner for Human Rights, Alvaro Gil-Robles, based on his visits to Russia over July 15-30 and September 19-29 of last year. Gil-Robles' report included an account of his trip to Chechnya over September... MORE

Gen.-Major Ilya Shabalkin, spokesman for the Russian military operation in the North Caucasus, told Interfax on April 25 that Bukhari Gumkiev, mufti of a mosque in the village of Shelkovskaya, was murdered. According to Shabalkin, the preliminary results of an investigation into the incident indicated... MORE

Chechen First Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov claimed on April 27 that "terrorists who commit serious crimes in Chechnya" come into the republic from neighboring Dagestan, where they rest and "muster their strength" and then "drop in" to Chechnya for "the next terrorist act." Kadyrov... MORE

Deputy Prosecutor-General for the Southern Federal District Nikolai Shepel announced on April 22 in Nalchik that Aslan Maskhadov's body had been buried in accordance with the law on terrorism and that "the burial place is not to be revealed," Itar-Tass reported. "Like with the graves... MORE