On February 23, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, sent telegrams to the president of Ingushetia, Ruslan Aushev, and the pro-Moscow head of administration of Chechnya, Akhmad Kadyrov, on the occasion of the fifty-seventh anniversary of the deportation of the Ingush and Chechen peoples. Putin... MORE

On February 28, the trial of Colonel Yury Budanov, a tank commander accused of strangling a young Chechen woman, El'za Kungaeva, in late March of 2000, commenced in a military court in Rostov-on-Don, a southern Russian city. "According to specialists [in Russian law]," the newspaper... MORE

The February 28 issue of Nezavisimaya gazeta carried the text of a lengthy interview with Aslan Maskhadov, the separatist president of Chechnya. The newspaper's editors had sent their questions for the Chechen president to his representatives located in "one of the European countries;" a diskette... MORE

The no. 9 (February 27-March 5) issue of Moskovskie Novosti contained an article on the mood of the Russian MVD forces stationed in Chechnya. It was noted that policemen from Bryansk Oblast in Russia who had been assigned to the Shatoi District Department of Internal... MORE

On March 1, the commander of Russian airborne troops, General Georgy Shpak, told RIA Novosti that, "The heads of the bandit formations, Aslan Maskhadov, Shamil Basaev and Khattab, are currently located in Chechnya; Ruslan Gelaev is in Georgia; Shirvani Basaev is receiving medical treatment in... MORE

As has been pointed out in previous issues of this newsletter, the Putin leadership has been keenly interested in improving relations with the Council of Europe, a forty-three-nation body which, significantly, does not include the United States as a member. The visit of the Council... MORE

On February 21, the online daily Lenta.ru reported that the pro-Moscow Chechen administration, headed by Akhmad Kadyrov, and Russian military and police units stationed in Chechnya were intending to take harsh steps to prevent any commemoration by the Chechen populace of the February 23, 1944... MORE

The respected polling organization, the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VCIOM), has reported the results of polling conducted throughout Russia from January 18-22 concerning Russian popular attitudes toward the war in Chechnya. The latest polling data shows that popular support for the... MORE

The well-known Russian human rights organization "Memorial" has released documents concerning the charged situation in the Kurchaloevsk District of Chechnya. On January 9, the pro-Moscow chief of administration of the district, M. Taramov, and the chairman of the local Council of Elders, A. Ibliev, wrote... MORE