On February 6 while in Mozdok, North Ossetia, the Russian Minister of Internal Affairs, Boris Gryzlov, chaired a meeting of the leaders of law enforcement organs of the North Caucasus region and of the command of MVD forces fighting in Chechnya. He announced that, prior... MORE

On February 7, AP correspondent Yury Bagrov reported that, "Federal troops hunted for rebels suspected of hiding in two Chechen villages for a ninth straight day, despite calls for an immediate end to the security sweeps amid accusations of human rights violations by soldiers. Federal... MORE

On February 5, it was learned that a group of pro-Moscow Chechen police had been taken into custody. Eight Chechen employees of the local department of police had attempted to hinder the efforts of Russian soldiers while they were conducting a special operation in the... MORE

On February 5, President Putin ordered the head of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations, Sergei Shoigu, "to prepare the repatriation of Chechen refugees in the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia, saying that Tbilisi supported the move." Shoigu announced that figures provided by Tbilisi showed that... MORE

Writing in the February 6 issue of the army newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda, journalist Oleg Torin observed that there are presently more than twenty international NGOs, "basically from Western states," active in the Chechen Republic. During the past year, they have sent "an enormous quantity of... MORE

What ever happened with the trial of Colonel Yury Budanov? On February 4, the newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported: "Almost a year has passed since the moment when, in Rostov-on-Don, there began the very noisy trial of Colonel Yury Budanov, charged with murdering an 18-year-old young... MORE

The threat of a tuberculosis epidemic has arisen in Chechnya. According to the pro-Moscow Chechen Administration, 4,171 persons have to date been diagnosed with an active form of the disease (Presscenter.ru, February 7).

The official RIA Novosti press service reported on February 7 that, "Four Russian [military] helicopters have crashed in Chechnya over the past two weeks, leaving twenty-three people killed, one person wounded and three others missing.... The causes of these accidents are currently under investigation. The... MORE

The no. 4 (January 31) issue of the magazine Itogi contains a piece by correspondent Oleg Odnokolenko which reports that "circles of experts close to the [Russian] government and presidential administration" are thinking of recommending that a Russia-wide referendum be conducted on the question of... MORE