Andreas Gross, the Swiss parliamentarian who organized the roundtable on Chechnya held on March 21 in Strasbourg under the auspices of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of the Europe (PACE), said on March 26 that it was possible that Akhmed Zakaev, the London-based Chechen... MORE

The Sufi interpretation of Islam has been practiced in Chechnya since the end of the 18th century. The Sufism of the Naqshbandi tariqa (or brotherhood) was the first to make its way to Chechnya (by Sheikh Mansur, Imam Avko, Imam Tashu-Hadji and many others). In... MORE

--RAMZAN SAYS HE KNOWS WHO KILLED HIS FATHER Chechen First Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov claimed on April 27 that the identities of both those who ordered and those who carried out the bombing which killed his father, the late Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov, last... MORE

"My goal is to return a smile to Chechnya." -- Ramzan Kadyrov, as quoted in Moskovsky komosomolets on April 26. "The ‘Kadyrov Jr.' project has been going on for almost a year. Judging by formal indications, it is going as well as possible. The formations... MORE

Russian special forces carried out an operation on April 15 against rebels holed up in an apartment building in Grozny. While six militants were killed in the ensuing battle – which lasted between seven and nine hours, depending on the press report – five Federal... MORE

Some Russian media have speculated that the rebels killed in the Grozny shootout were in the Chechen capital to carry out attacks timed to coincide with the May 9 Victory Day holiday. This follows press reports earlier this month that Russia's special services, on the... MORE

A report from Grozny published on April 19 by the pro-Kremlin strana.ru website suggested that Chechen law-enforcement organs are too penetrated by rebel accomplices to take over responsibly for the fight against the separatists. The report's author, Amir Akhmadov, quoted Ramzan Kadyrov as insisting during... MORE

Dagestani First Deputy Prime Minister Gitinomagomed Gadzhimagomedov warned on April 19 that religious extremists, above all "Wahhabis," are continuing to try to seize power in Dagestan while working to destabilize the republic. Referring to the latest wave of attacks in the republic, Gadzhimagomedov said that... MORE

Novaya gazeta on April 14 published statements attributed to North Ossetian President Aleksandr Dzasokhov and the head of the republic's branch of the Federal Security Service, Valery Andreyev, indicating that it was senior federal FSB and Kremlin officials who were actually in charge of the... MORE

The First Channel (Russian state television) serves de facto as the most influential voice of the Putin regime, reaching as it does into nearly every village and hamlet in the vast sprawl that is the Russian Republic. One of the best-known political commentators on the... MORE