The issue of the fate of relatives of Chechen separatist President Aslan Maskhadov has also remained the focus of attention of human rights groups. Memorial issued a press release on January 12 detailing what it said were the abductions of eight of Maskhadov's relatives last... MORE

On January 20, the regional branch of the Federal Security Service in Nizhny Novgorod summoned Stanislav Dmitrievsky, chief editor of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society's Information Center, for questioning. That same day, FSB officers raided the organization's offices in Nizhny Novgorod, seizing documents containing the contact... MORE

On January 21, just four days after Nikolai Gryaznov, head of the FSB directorate in Dagestan announced that the body of Rasul Makasharipov, a.k.a. "Muslim," was among the remains of five militants found in the ruins of a house on the outskirts of Makhachkala following... MORE

Tensions between the Dagestani and Chechen governments remain high following the January 10 detention of Zulai Kadyrova, the sister of Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's first deputy prime minister, who led a convoy of armed men to free her (see Chechnya Weekly, January 19). The prosecutor's office... MORE

On January 25, Russia's Foreign Ministry accused Novaya gazeta of spreading "disinformation" in an article published in the biweekly's January 24 issue and written by its award-winning Chechnya correspondent, Anna Politkovskaya. The article, headlined "The FSB Equipped Its Helsinki Group," claimed that Akhmad Zakaev, Chechen... MORE

Among Americans who do not follow political developments in Russia closely – that is, among the overwhelming majority of Americans – there exists an impression that ethnic Russians (who comprise 80 percent of the population of the Russian Federation) strongly support Putin's war in Chechnya.... MORE

--BESLAN VICTIMS' RELATIVES BLOCK HIGHWAY Hundreds of Beslan residents whose children and grandchildren were killed in last September's school massacre blocked a section of Rostov-Baku highway on January 20, demanding an objective investigation of the school siege and the resignation of North Ossetian President Aleksandr... MORE

Nikolai Gryaznov, head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) directorate in Dagestan, said on January 17 that the body of Rasul Makasharipov, a.k.a. "Muslim," was among the remains of five militants recovered in the ruins of a house in a village located on the outskirts... MORE

The January 10 detention of Zulai Kadyrova, the sister of Chechnya's first deputy prime minister, by police in Dagestan's Khasavyurt district and her subsequent "rescue" by a group of armed men led by her brother has continued to reverberate in North Caucasus inter-republican relations. Dmitri... MORE

Novye izvestia reported on January 18 that Gennady Uminsky, the retired warrant officer who filed suit in an Oryol district court on January 13 seeking restitution from the separatist Chechen government for disabling injuries he suffered when his unit was trapped in a three-week battle... MORE