On October 9, the pro-Putin website Strana.ru wrote: "The FSB of Russia confirms that special camps for sabotage and terrorist preparation exist on the territory of Georgia." The camps were said by Major General Arkady Edelev, deputy head of the FSB's Department for the Struggle... MORE

On October 11, the pro-Maskhadov website Chechenpress.com reported that one of the five Chechens extradited to Russia by Georgia, Khusein Aziev from the village of Roshni-Chu, was already dead. "The skull of the young man was broken by [a] beating.... The body of the killed... MORE

powerful blast ripped through a pro-Moscow police station in the Zavodskoi district of the Chechen capital on October 10. Some twenty-four persons were reported dead and about twenty wounded (NTVru.com, October 11). Gazeta.ru commented on October 11: "Separatists, seeking to punish their compatriots for collaborating... MORE

Writing in the October 8 issue of Polit.ru, polling specialist L.A. Sedov reported recent findings obtained by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM). When asked "how the situation in Chechnya has changed since V. Putin was elected president," 30 percent of... MORE

The October 9 issue of Gazeta.ru featured written replies by Russian presidential aide and chief spokesman for issues relating to Chechnya Sergei Yastrzhembsky to questions submitted by email by readers. Many of the questions, not surprisingly, concerned Chechnya and the present state of Russian-Georgian relations.... MORE

Concerning the whereabouts of major Chechen field commander Ruslan Gelaev, Yastrzhembsky wrote: "Such information as I possess suggests that Gelaev is not in Chechnya." The following day, however, Colonel General Konstantin Totsky, the director of the Russian Federal Border-guard Service, asserted that "Gelaev may be... MORE

Asked how long the conflict would continue, Yastrzhembsky prophesied: "I think that the reestablishment of peaceful life in Chechnya will be a rather extended process... If we examine the situation in the West, we see that similar operations can go on for decades. In Northern... MORE

Over the past week, President Putin and one of his severest political critics chose to comment on the subject of the events of 1999 that served to spark a second Russian invasion of Chechnya. During a meeting with participants in the "Teacher of the Year"... MORE

On October 10, the website Politcom.ru reported on an interview which Tony Blair, the prime minister of Great Britain, had just granted to the BBC before setting off for Moscow to see President Putin. Blair, the website wrote, "made an important preliminary declaration on Chechnya... MORE

On October 10, census-takers began making a count of the population of the Republic of Chechnya, under conditions of tight security. A total of 979, 633 questionnaires were reportedly delivered to the pro-Moscow authorities, according to a spokeswoman for the Kadyrov administration, Alla Vlazneva (Agence... MORE