On November 6, former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov told Ekho Moskvy Radio in a live interview that, in his opinion, it is necessary to introduce special rule into Chechnya and to create the post of governor general of Chechnya, an official who "would report... MORE

The November 5 issue of the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung carried an article by German specialist Aleksandr Rahr (who is of Russian descent) which was translated into Russian and posted on the website Inosmi.ru on the same day. The author commented inter alia: "Putin has... MORE

According to a report appearing in the November 5 issue of the Prague Watchdog, on October 25, four camps for Chechen IDPs located on the territory of Ingushetia--the Satsita, Bela, Alina and Sputnik camps--"were encircled by a large number of Russian soldiers. Federal servicemen started... MORE

On November 7, it was announced that President Putin had issued a decree appointing Stanislav Il'yasov, the prime minister of the pro-Moscow Chechen government, minister of the Russian Federation for the affairs of Chechnya (RIA Novosti and Lenta.ru, November 7). Il'yasov's promotion seems to represent... MORE

The November 6 issue of the website Politcom.ru reported that, five days previously, on November 1, agents of the FSB had raided the editorial offices of the weekly newspaper Versiya. They came to "seize the computer of one of the journalists and to take away... MORE

On November 3, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told journalists at Khabarovsk airport in the Russian Far East that the Russian military force based in Chechnya had begun a massive, violent retaliatory operation against Chechen militants. Ivanov also announced that he personally had taken a decision... MORE

:* The questions* A theory with holes in it* Witness testimony* From Washington: dialog or blacklist?* Primakov: step one, a cease-fire* Lord Judd: no military solution* Perspective: Moscow still rules out negotiations NEWS

As in the case of previous large-scale bloody events in Moscow over the past decade--the 1991 August coup, the 1993 "October events," the "terror bombings" of September 1999--the events of October 23-26 of this year will likely be analyzed and discussed for a long time.... MORE

Media reported on October 30 that Russian Minister of Health Yury Shevchenko had asserted categorically that the gas the Special Forces used in storming the Moscow theater on October 26 had been based on fentanyl, a fast-acting opiate with numerous medical applications. The compound, Shevchenko... MORE