President George W. Bush's remarks at his joint press conference with Vladimir Putin closing their recent Camp David summit meeting largely gave the latter what he wanted on Chechnya. The U.S. president's words were interpreted by mainstream news media, such as the Associated Press, as... MORE

Just before Vladimir Putin's and Akhmad Kadyrov's recent visit to the United States, the independent New York-based monitoring organization Human Rights Watch released a twenty-eight-page report on "Russian Abuses in Ingushetia." The report, based largely on face-to-face interviews, provides fresh details about seven separate "zachistki"... MORE

The website Grani.ru has published a digital video received by e-mail from rebel guerrillas who are holding a civilian employee of the Kadyrov administration as a hostage. Nadezhda Pogosovaya, an aide to the head of the republican procuracy, was seized by an unidentified rebel group... MORE

An anonymous Russian officer gave Moscow correspondent Paul Quinn-Judge of Time magazine a vivid example of the distrust between his colleagues and the Kadyrov administration's forces, as reported in that magazine's current issue (cover date October 6). According to the officer, former rebel guerrillas now... MORE

Further allegations of corruption recently surfaced in connection with the payment of compensation to Chechens who lost their property to military action--and just days after the long-delayed payments finally began. In a September 29 report for Nezavisimaya gazeta, Andrei Riskin wrote that the republic's procuracy... MORE

In a remarkably under reported statement, Russian President Vladimir Putin has apparently accused lower echelon U.S. government officials of meeting with known Chechen terrorists. On September 20, a few days before flying to the United States for his summit meeting with President George W. Bush,... MORE

With a final decision in the Zakaev extradition case now expected at the end of October, both the friends and the enemies of the Chechen diplomat are analyzing the final days of the London court hearings to guess what that decision will be. The friends... MORE

Political observers are still speculating about what lay behind the Putin administration's sudden decision earlier this month to persuade or force every serious opposition candidate out of Chechnya's presidential race. The puzzle, of course, is that this abrupt reversal of tactics effectively nullified much of... MORE

With the forced removal or "voluntary" withdrawal from the presidential race of Khusein Dzhabrailov, Aslambek Aslakhanov and Malik Saidullaev--the three serious rivals to the de facto incumbent Akhmad Kadyrov--and also of minor candidate Said-Selim Tsuev, there remained six (theoretically) active candidates as of September 24.... MORE

The chances of ordinary Chechens receiving anything resembling fair compensation for their homes and other property destroyed by Russian carpet bombing and other military action now appear increasingly remote. Before September it seemed that Akhmad Kadyrov would use the payments as a tactic to boost... MORE