On January 22, Vladimir Putin relieved Abdul Sultygov from his position as the Kremlin's special representative for human rights in Chechnya. Independent observers see two possible results: Either the human rights situation in the republic will remain the same, or it will get worse. Putin's... MORE

Rachel Denber of the New York-based organization Human Rights Watch has written an updated, comprehensive overview of the international response to the second Chechen war. It is entitled "Glad to be Deceived": The International Community and Chechnya. Denber notes several failures by foreign states and... MORE

The long article on the Dubrovka hostage taking incident by former Chechnya Weekly editor John Dunlop, published recently as a three-part series by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, has stirred considerable interest. Dunlop's article is summarized in the January 21 issue of Chechnya Weekly; readers who... MORE

Whatever disagreements there may be either within Russia or abroad about the political future of Chechnya, one would hope that all could agree on protecting civilian refugees, including women and children, from being forced against their will to return to a shattered, crime-ridden war zone.... MORE

How many servicemen in the Kadyrov administration's security agencies are double agents--that is, separatist rebels operating under cover? A January 14 article by Yelena Shesternina in Russky kurier suggested that the recent arrest of a 26-year-old policeman in Grozny represents just the tip of a... MORE

John Dunlop, senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and former editor of Chechnya Weekly, has written the most detailed analysis yet to appear publicly in English (or any other language) of the October 2002 hostage crisis at Moscow's Dubrovka theater. His thirty-five-page text was... MORE

As this issue of Chechnya Weekly goes to press, attendees at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival in Utah are discussing the world debut there of a new documentary film entitled "Disbelief," directed by Andrei Nekrasov. The festival's catalogue describes the film as "deploying all the... MORE

Dissident lawyer and former KGB/FSB officer Mikhail Trepashkin, jailed after he raised questions about the 1999 apartment bombings and the 2002 tragedy at the Dubrovka theater, apparently took few precautions against possible countermeasures by his former colleagues. According to a January 14 article in the... MORE

Ramzan Kadyrov, Akhmad Kadyrov's son and the head of his private army, personally took part in the torture of an imprisoned Chechen, according to a January 13 article by Nick Paton Walsh of the British daily The Guardian. The young Chechen, for whom the British... MORE

Akhmad Kadyrov's late-January visit to Saudi Arabia, like his trip to New York and Washington last year, shows that he still enjoys Vladimir Putin's strong support not only within Chechnya but also as a spokesman in foreign relations. A major goal of his trip was... MORE