Yet another sign that Chechnya's war is heating up came from the Associated Press on July 25, which as usual provided new reports on federal casualties from its sources inside Chechnya's pro-Moscow administration. An anonymous official told the news agency that rebel guerrillas had mounted... MORE

"The demagogic view that Chechnya was truly presented with a chance for independence during the period from 1997 to 1997 cannot survive serious examination….In fact Chechnya was not a legal subject of international law, did not have the right to sign treaties or to take... MORE

--MORE REFUGEES FORCED TO LEAVE INGUSHETIA Last week yet another small settlement of Chechen refugees was on the way to being forcibly vacated. According to an article published by the Prima human-rights news agency on July 19, gas and electricity had been cut off to... MORE

A mine exploded in Grozny on July 13 just as a large, highly guarded convoy was passing which included the car of Sergei Abramov, who has of course been acting president of Chechnya's pro-Moscow administration since the assassination of Akhmad Kadyrov more than two months... MORE

There was also a large battle on July 13 near the village of Avtury in the Shali district southeast of Grozny. The official Itar-Tass news agency admitted in a July 14 report that the combat ended with the capture of 12 servicemen from the "presidential... MORE

Seven Russian soldiers were killed and five wounded in Chechnya during a 24-hour period ending on July 17, an unnamed official of the republic's pro-Moscow administration told the Associated Press. Two of the deaths took place in a firefight with rebel guerrillas in the southern... MORE

Aslan Maskhadov, president of Chechnya's underground secessionist government, said in an e-mail communication to the Reuters news agency last weekend that attacks similar to the June raid on Ingushetia may be repeated in other parts of Russia. While disavowing any personal participation in the attack... MORE

The Russian public continues to be pessimistic about the war in Chechnya, according to the latest findings of the independent, widely respected Levada polling center. The center published a summary and analysis on its website (www.levada.ru) on July 14. In May, 61 percent of those... MORE

According to a recent poll conducted by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) and published in Novye izvestia on July 17, two-thirds of Russians surveyed (67.6 percent) consider that the rising young generation of Chechens—those who are now 10 to 12... MORE

On July 14, the election authorities of the pro-Moscow administration in Grozny formally closed the reception of registration documents from would-be candidates for president in the August 29 special election. According to the authorities, 13 candidates filed the necessary documents in proper form before last... MORE