Akhmar Zavgaev, Chechnya's representative in the upper house of the Russian parliament, has given the Kadyrov-for-president bandwagon another push. On June 2 Zavgaev told the Moscow daily Kommersant that the republic's presidential election will take place no later than November. Zavgaev said that a treaty... MORE

The embezzlement of funds supposedly intended for the restoration of Chechnya, a practice already taken for granted by most observers, is now further testing the limits of cynicism. According to a May 21 report in Rossiskaya gazeta, so much has been stolen that the republic's... MORE

"SILOVIKI" VS. KADYROV Is Akhmad Kadyrov overplaying his hand? The head of the Moscow-appointed administration in Chechnya, generally regarded as the frontrunner in the republic's forthcoming presidential election, is already calling himself "acting president" and is clearly trying to create an aura of inevitability. He... MORE

BOOK EXAMINES "EXERCISE" IN RYAZAN Americans face powerful psychological barriers to considering--even as a hypothesis--the idea that today's Russian authorities could have secretly ordered the murder of hundreds of their own citizens for domestic political purposes. If that actually happened, and even more so if... MORE

Akhmad Kadyrov announced on May 31 that "a large reward" will be paid to anyone providing information leading to the capture of Aslan Maskhadov. He did not specify the source of the funds, nor the size of the sum beyond stating that it would be... MORE

Just as the separatist rebels warned during the winter, the return of a protective cover of foliage this spring has brought with it an upsurge in the rebels' military activities. In recent weeks an increasing proportion of rebel attacks has involved direct exchanges of small-arms... MORE

According to reports received as this issue of Chechnya Weekly went to press, Akhmad Kadyrov, the head of the Moscow-appointed administration in Chechnya, has fired his entire cabinet along with heads of local administrations in Chechnya. Interfax reported that Kadyrov reappointed Anatoly Popov as prime... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin's amnesty proposal, which last week received preliminary approval from the federal Duma, is intended in large part to serve the same purpose as his March constitutional referendum. That is to create the impression that peace, reconciliation and the rule of law... MORE

Does Putin's proposed "procedure for implementing the decree" make things clearer? "To some extent, Yes," Memorial has answered. What the "procedural" text makes obvious is that the organs entrusted with putting the amnesty into practice will have the widest possible latitude for making arbitrary decisions.... MORE

WHERE IS "ABUBAKAR?" Was the October 2002 terrorist attack on Moscow's Dubrovka theater provoked, or at least manipulated, by double agents working for the Russian authorities? Anna Politkovskaya of Novaya gazeta has already raised that possibility (see Chechnya Weekly, April 29), asking questions that the... MORE