noted further that 715,065 (97.44 percent) of the registered populace were ethnic Chechens, demonstrating that the republic has become a mono-ethnic entity. The number of ethnic Russians now living in Chechnya was estimated by the Danish organizations as "lower than 10,000" (a figure incommensurate with... MORE

On 12 November, a bizarre incident, or, rather, series of incidents, occurred which pointed up the immense problems Russia is having in controlling the tempestuous pro-Moscow Chechen leadership of the republic and underscored the riven nature of the Russian military and police presence in Chechnya.... MORE

On November 14, the online daily news service Gazeta.ru, frequently a quite reliable source of information, reported that it appeared that President Aslan Maskhadov had left the borders of Chechnya. According to trustworthy sources, "Maskhadov did indeed leave the territory of Chechnya at the end... MORE

On November 8, it was reported that, after a visit by President Putin to the North Caucasus region, he affirmed that he would like to see foreign investors, and not the Russian government, pay for the physical restoration of Chechnya (Lenta.ru, November 8).

There are respected political analysts both in Russia and in the West who believe that Vladimir Putin's most dangerous political rival today may be 43-year-old Lieutenant General Vladimir Shamanov, presently commander of the 58th Russian Army based in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia, who is now also... MORE

The no. 46 issue of Moskovskie novosti features the text of a new, lengthy interview with Aslan Maskhadov, the president of Chechnya. A correspondent for the weekly had, through intermediaries, submitted a series of questions to Maskhadov, and the Chechen president had then sent back... MORE

In his Moskovskie novosti interview, Maskhadov repeated his oft-stated view that the present conflict had been carefully prepared, over a three-year period, by the Kremlin. The autumn 1999 bombings in Moscow, Volgodonsk and Buinaksk, which sparked the Russian invasion of Chechnya, were in fact set... MORE

Replying on November 21 to Maskhadov's comments in Moskovskie novosti, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, the Russian president's principal spokesman on Chechnya, maintained that in principle "he saw nothing new" in Maskhadov's statements (Russian agencies, November 21). Maskhadov, he said, had already missed his chance to exhibit "maturity... MORE