In an interview with Novaya gazeta published on February 14, former Ingushetian President Ruslan Aushev commented on Maskhadov's ceasefire and call for peace talks. Asked whether he thought the ceasefire was holding, Aushev answered: "I believe that is a secondary issue. First it is necessary... MORE

Akhmed Zakaev wrote an op-ed piece published in the International Herald Tribune on February 16 urging President George W. Bush to reconsider his position vis-à-vis Chechnya prior to his meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Bratislava later this month. "Three years ago, the U.S. president... MORE

First Deputy Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov has vowed to sue human rights activists who accused him involvement in kidnappings, including the abduction of relatives of Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, RIA Novosti reported on February 13. On January 19, the International Federation for Human... MORE

The separatist Kavkazcenter website reported on February 11 that it had received "confirmation" that former Chechen Vice President Vakha Arsanov had been "taken prisoner." Various Russian media reported in mid-January that Chechen police had detained Arsanov, but the Chechen Interior Ministry denied the reports. Kavkazcenter... MORE

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said in an interview she gave to the Toronto Star while in Moscow, which was published in the paper on February 14, that Russia should do more to investigate allegations of widespread abuse by its forces... MORE

Makhmut Magomadov, the Chechen human rights lawyer who was kidnapped by unknown persons on January 20, has been released, the Kavkazky Uzel website and other information sources reported on February 14. According to the website, Magomadov told Ruslan Badalov, head of the Chechen National Salvation... MORE

Writing in the February 14 edition of Moskovsky komsomolets, Vadim Rechkalov speculated that Moscow wants Ramzan Kadyrov out of the way as part of a plan to "buy" peace in Chechnya through the treaty on the delimitation of powers between Moscow and Chechnya, the drafting... MORE

The Chechen Diaspora is still taking shape. The devastating war in Chechnya that has lasted for ten years has already produced a large number of refugees. Most of them, of course, moved to Russia, while others chose to escape the old Empire and preferred to... MORE

--ALKHANOV: REBELS' RELATIVES SHOULD URGE THEM TO GIVE UP On February 12, Chechen President Alu Alkhanov called on the relatives, friends and acquaintances of separatist fighters to urge them to surrender, Interfax reported. "Spring is ahead, and we have peaceful constructive work to do," Alkhanov... MORE

Chechen warlord Shamil Basaev appeared in a four-minute video posted on the separatist Kavkazcenter website on February 8 aimed at dispelling speculation that he had been killed. On February 2, the head of the Abkhazia's State Security Service, Mikhail Tarba, referred to rumors that Basaev... MORE