The no. 2 (January 14) issue of the pro-democracy weekly Novaya Gazeta contains an incisive analysis of the reasons for the present impasse in Chechnya by the well-known political commentator Boris Kagarlitsky. Kagarlitsky begins by examining trends revealed in Russian public opinion surveys since the... MORE

On January 23, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), meeting in Strasbourg, devoted one of the sessions of its five-day winter assembly to the situation in Chechnya. Journalist Anton Chernykh summarized the session's proceedings on the pages of Kommersant: "Having remarked that... MORE

The appearance of Akhmed Zakaev, a deputy premier in the Chechen separatist government and a personal representative of President Maskhadov, created a considerable stir at the PACE meetings. In an interview with Kommersant (January 23 issue), Zakaev noted that, on December 19, Lord Russell-Johnston, then... MORE

Before arriving in Strasbourg, Zakaev had visited Britain, where he had been invited to the Foreign Office for discussions and had also been given an opportunity to hold a press conference at the House of Parliament. On January 21, Roderic Lyne, the British ambassador to... MORE

In similar fashion, on January 25, Russia's Foreign Ministry harshly criticized the United States for a meeting held on January 23 between Ilyas Akhmadov, the separatists' chief international diplomat, and representatives of the U.S. State Department (Russia Journal, January 25). In his response to the... MORE

Speaking at the annual general assembly of the Academy of Military Sciences in Moscow on January 22, General of the Army Anatoly Kvashnin, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, reported that "in Chechnya today there are present 86,000 soldiers and employees... MORE

At the Russian State Duma on January 24, a roundtable completed its work in which residents of the Chechen Republic--Russians, Chechens, Dagestanis and representatives of other nationalities--had participated. One key question discussed at the roundtable was how to convey to the president and to the... MORE

On January 24, at the Russian military base in Khankala, Chechnya, FSB director Nikolai Patrushev chaired a session of the operations group in charge of the current "antiterrorist operation in the North Caucasus." Taking part in the session were: Viktor Kazantsev, Russian presidential envoy to... MORE

On Wednesday, January 30 at 2:00 p.m. in Room 2168 of the Rayburn Building of the U.S. House of Representatives, a briefing is to be held on the subject "The Prospects for Peace in Chechnya." Participating in the briefing will be Ilyas Akhmadov, Foreign Minister... MORE