On June 18, President Vladimir Putin invited a number of correspondents representing leading American media to the Kremlin for a discussion of the significance of what had occurred when he had met three days previously with President Bush in Slovenia. One of the questions put... MORE

During a June 16 press conference held jointly with President Putin following two hours of meetings in Slovenia, U.S. President George W. Bush observed, inter alia: "Respectful relations require honesty. And we did discuss areas where my country has differences with Russia--over Chechnya, and over... MORE

On the eve of the June 16 Bush-Putin summit, President Aslan Maskhadov of Chechnya sent the American president an open letter on behalf of the Chechen nation. "I write," Maskhadov began, "because my people will not have a place at the [negotiation] table and yet... MORE

On June 11, the plenipotentiary Russian presidential representative in the Southern Federal District, retired General Viktor Kazantsev, met with the former pro-Moscow mayor of Djohar (Grozny), Bislan Gantamirov, and offered him the post of chief federal inspector for the entire southern district. As had been... MORE

As a result of a spate of assassinations of pro-Moscow Chechen administrators and Muslim clergy, General Gennady Troshev, commander of the North Caucasus Military District, ordered on June 8 that, within three days' time, all local pro-Moscow leaders and the imams of Chechens mosques should... MORE

Aleksei Arbatov, deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma's defense committee and a member of the Yabloko faction, believes that most Russians hold a mistaken view of what is actually happening in Chechnya. "People," he remarked, "are of the opinion that, while the federal forces... MORE

The president of the autonomous republic of Ingushetia, Ruslan Aushev, has faulted the Russian Ministry for Federation and Nationality Affairs "for the fact that tens of thousands of Chechen refugees on Ingush territory have not received hot food for more than two months." Aushev noted... MORE

On the afternoon of June 15, the Romanian foreign minister, Mircea Geoana, who also serves as the chairman-in-office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for the present calendar year, arrived in the Chechen village of Znamenskoe in Nadterechny District to reopen... MORE