The trial in a military court in Rostov-on-Don of Colonel Yury Budanov, accused of having strangled a young Chechen woman, 18-year-old El'za Kungaeva, in March of 2000, has been slowly dragging on since February 28. On Friday, June 22, Budanov finally took the stand to... MORE

The June 26 issue of the Boston Globe carried a report by correspondent David Filipov, filed from Nazran, Ingushetia, concerning the extraordinary corruption of and war crimes committed by the Russian forces based in Chechnya. As is well known, Russian soldiers in Chechnya are engaged... MORE

On June 24, the Combined Group of Russian Forces announced that earlier in the day it had killed the notorious kidnapper and Wahhabi field commander, Arbi Baraev, a man who, according to the army newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda, "had personally participated in the murders of 170... MORE

As the summer of 2001 began, there was accumulating evidence that the Chechen separatists were attempting to seize the initiative in the twenty-one-month-long conflict, which has now lasted longer than the earlier 1994-1996 war. On June 21, the chairman of the Defense and Security Committee... MORE

Recent developments in Chechnya's second city, Gudermes, appeared to bear out Magodmadov's interpretation of the situation. On June 19, three powerful car bombs exploded, virtually simultaneously, at the buildings of the pro-Moscow Chechen Supreme Court, the temporary headquarters of the regular police, and the headquarters... MORE

On the night of June 19 to June 20, the exchange of gunfire in the Chechen capital was the fiercest in the past month. According to Major Mikhail Mazuk of the pro-Moscow police force of Leninsky District, "During the night there were confirmed eleven large-scale... MORE

Commenting on such events, Il'ya Maksakov, a journalist who covers the war for Nezavisimaya Gazeta, and a colleague, wrote: "With each day, the war in Chechnya is becoming more and more serious, but the Russian leadership is not, on the one hand, in a position... MORE

On June 24, it was announced by the Russian forces in Chechnya that the notorious Chechen Wahhabi field commander Arbi Baraev had been killed in the course of a special operation (Gazeta.ru, June 25). Danish specialist Norbert Strade commented: "I doubt that this constitutes a... MORE

Responding to questions from Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina during testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 20, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell stated a propos of Chechnya: "I know that from day one we've been pressing the Russians to find... MORE