On April 14, two newly appointed Russian power ministers, Boris Gryzlov, head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Sergei Ivanov, Minister of Defense, had accompanied President Putin on a flying, one-day visit to Chechnya (see Chechnya Weekly, April 19). One of the stops made... MORE

Working independently, two Russian journalists have arrived at strikingly similar estimates for the actual cost of the current 1999-2001 Russo-Chechen war. The well-known military correspondent Pavel Felgenhauer wrote in the 26 April issue of the Moscow Times: "Today the war in Chechnya is in its... MORE

On April 18, the city of Grozny (Djohar) was officially declared to be once again the capital of the Chechen Republic (Kommersant, April 19). Five days later, on April 23, a ceremony was held marking the official opening of the new main administration building (called... MORE

On April 24, 183 Chechen forced migrants left the "Soglasie" tent camp in Ingushetia and, accompanied by a representative of the pro-Moscow Chechen government, were moved to a refugee center located in a former kindergarten in Argun in Chechnya (RIA Novosti, April 24). The following... MORE

In a much-discussed episode, a leading and well-known Russian human rights activist, Viktor Popkov, was severely wounded on April 18 as he was traveling by car through the Chechen village of Alkhan-Kale. Popkov, accompanied by a local doctor, Roza Muzarovaya, and by a driver had... MORE

Writing in the no. 29 issue of Novaya Gazeta, award-winning war correspondent Alla Politkovskaya reports the brutal murder of three children and an adult which took place on April 17 in the village of Nizhny Aleroi in Kurchaloevsk District. Journalist Maura Reynolds also investigated this... MORE

On April 23, the online daily Lenta.ru reported that the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva had concluded its examination of the issue of Chechnya by adopting a resolution condemning the actions of the Russian federal authorities in the republic. In the resolution, which was... MORE

The no. 17 (April 26) issue of the weekly Obshchaya Gazeta contains an article by the elected president of Ingushetia, Ruslan Aushev, a former Soviet general, urging the Russian leadership to begin negotiations with President Maskhadov of Chechnya (whose five-year term is due to expire... MORE

In mid-April, the Russian minister for the affairs of Chechnya, Vladimir Elagin, admitted during an interview with RIA Novosti the possibility of further significant complications in the situation in Chechnya. The advent of the so-called "green season," he predicted, would likely witness an increase in... MORE