Was Akhmad Kadyrov led to his assassination by a traitor within his own inner circle? Among the many theories now competing for attention is that of Sergei Goncharov, head of the association of veterans of the "Alpha" elite commando unit. He told the pro-Kremlin website... MORE

--LAWYERS FOR MURDERED CHECHENS WILL APPEAL ACQUITTAL OF ACCUSED As expected, the recent not-guilty verdict for four officers of Russia's military intelligence accused of murdering six Chechen civilians (see Chechnya Weekly, May 5) will be appealed. Magomed Gandaur-Egui, lawyer for the slain Chechens' families, told... MORE

The American Committee for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC) has condemned the May 9 assassination of Akhmad Kadyrov, calling on May 10 for a renewed commitment by both parties to end the war through peace negotiations. "Yesterday's attack was reprehensible," said Glen Howard (who heads both... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin has turned out to be a victim of his own success in Chechnya. Having systematically removed from the political game all possible rivals to Akhmad Kadyrov - for example by forcing the strongest contenders out of last autumn's rigged presidential election... MORE

Chechenpress, one of the organs of Chechnya's underground separatist government, published the following statement from President Aslan Maskhadov on May 10: "In connection with the terrorist act at the Dynamo stadium in Johar [Grozny], in which peaceful citizens of the ChRI [the Chechen Republic of... MORE

From the beginning of the year 2004 until the end of April, some 136 people were kidnapped in Chechnya, Dmitry Grushkin of the human rights center Memorial told Radio Liberty in a broadcast interview last week. Of these, seventy-six were eventually released while thirteen were... MORE

It appears that both federal troops and Akhmad Kadyrov's forces failed in a special, intensive push to capture Aslan Maskhadov as a trophy for Vladimir Putin's second inauguration. If they had succeeded, Kadyrov and Putin would have been able to boast the greatest victory against... MORE

Now that the Putin administration has largely neutralized opposition in the parliament and the broadcast news media, the next logical step is to cripple - or at least discredit - Russia's most independent-minded human rights organizations. That would seem to be the reasoning behind a... MORE

--RUSSIAN MOTHERS GROUP IS RECOGNIZED The Organization of Soldiers' Mothers is to receive an Aachen Peace Prize on September 1 for its work in defending the human rights of Russian soldiers, the organizers of the prize announced on May 7. Alfred Steinbicker of the committee... MORE

Chances are fading that the Russian aviator or aviators who killed six young Chechen children and their mother on April 8 (see Chechnya Weekly, April 21) will face serious penalties. In an April 29 article for Novaya gazeta, Anna Politkovskaya reported that the federal military... MORE