On December 20, the chairman of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Vladimir Rushailo, reported to President Vladimir Putin on the situation in Chechnya, from which he had just returned after a two-day inspection visit. Rushailo noted that "over only the past three months [in... MORE

The special representative of President Putin for human rights in Chechnya, Vladimir Kalamanov, recently noted that conditions for forced migrants living in the Chechen Republic have gotten "still worse." Not only is hot food no longer being provided for the refugees, but they now "simply... MORE

Ilya Maksakov, a journalist who covers the war for Nezavisimaya gazeta, recently criticized the military's proposed plan to establish 200 garrisons in a majority of the towns and villages of the Chechen Republic. The soldiers manning these garrisons, he warned, would represent sitting ducks for... MORE

President Putin's chief spokesman for issues relating to Chechnya, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, recently underscored that Chechnya is not to be accorded special status once it is fully reincorporated back into Russia. "I think that today the theme of special rights for subjects of the federation," he... MORE

In early 1996, Boris Nemtsov, the then young governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, significantly advanced the prospects for peace during the first (1994-1996) Russo-Chechen war when he collected a million signatures from residents of his region pleading for an end to the conflict. On December... MORE

On December 9, President Vladimir Putin presented awards to Russian journalists-most of them employed by the state-owned television network RTR-for their "objective coverage" of the war in Chechnya. By "objective" the Russian president clearly meant coverage which favored and supported the Russian military campaign (Agence... MORE

On December 15, Russian armed forces chief of staff Anatoly Kvashnin announced that the combined military and MVD task force in Chechnya would be taking their troops out of the safety of army bases and deploying them in small contingents throughout the republic. This decision,... MORE

In early December, former Russian Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin, who now heads up the Accounting Chamber of Russia (the rough equivalent of the U.S. GAO), announced that "he had asked prosecutors to investigate senior [Russian] bureaucrats suspected of misusing vast sums of reconstruction cash" destined... MORE

On December 9, negotiations were concluded at the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs concerning a memorandum of mutual understanding between the MVD and an Assistance Group of the OSCE, which wants to be permitted to return to Chechnya. The question of how to ensure the... MORE