Latest North Caucasus Weekly Articles

PUTIN AIMS PUBLIC REMARKS WESTWARD.

On June 24, on the eve of his departure for Kananaskis, Canada to attend the meetings of the G-8, President Vladimir Putin held a press conference in Moscow. Three of the questions asked by journalists touched upon the question of Chechnya. In his comments, Putin... MORE

MOSCOW PLEASED WITH WASHINGTON AS “ALLY”… “

Bush has Praised Putin for Chechnya" read a headline in the June 28 issue of the online daily Gazeta.ru. Reporting on the press conference which had followed last week's G-8 meetings in Canada, the website wrote: "President Bush willingly agreed that Putin could be considered... MORE

…BUT CALLS U.S. LEADERS HYPOCRITICAL.

On June 20, Akhmad Kadyrov, the non-elected head of the pro-Moscow Chechen administration, gave an interview to the website Chechenskaya Respublika in which he said this about his recent conversation with the U.S. ambassador to Russia, Alexander Vershbow: "He asked me about the observance of... MORE

KADYROV VISITS GERMANY.

On June 24, Kadyrov, who four days previously had celebrated the second anniversary of his appointment by Putin, began a four-day visit to Germany as a guest of the German government and the German parliament. Kadyrov was scheduled to have talks in the German Ministry... MORE

RYBKIN CALLS FOR NEGOTIATIONS.

On June 28, Kommersant published an open letter addressed to Putin by a former high-ranking Russian state official, Ivan Rybkin. Under Boris Yeltsin, Rybkin served as speaker of the Russian State Duma and then as secretary of the Russian Security Council. In his open letter... MORE

RUSSIA MISREPRESENTS STANCE ON REFUGEES.

On June 26, Interfax reported that the number of IDPs fleeing from Chechnya into Ingushetia was on the rise. "In general," Svetlana Gannushkina, head of the Migration and Law Network of the Russian human rights organization Memorial, remarked, "the inflow of refugees from Chechnya to... MORE

FRENCH WEEKLY STARTS CHECHNYA COVERAGE.

On June 27, the French weekly, Le Nouvel Observateur, announced that it was creating a new rubric entitled "Chechnya: Chronicle of a Forgotten Genocide." Under this rubric, the weekly "will present information, statements, appeals, but also [will report on] concrete actions of solidarity." In its... MORE

CHECHENS THINK HUMAN RIGHTS ENVOY A CRIMINAL.

Queried about a recent award presented by the Council of Europe to President Putin's special human rights envoy to Chechnya, Vladimir Kalamanov, Vachagaev responded: "In presenting this medal, the Council of Europe has discredited the very name of democracy and of human rights which it... MORE

DANISH AID GOES ASTRAY.

On June 27, the pro-Putin website Strana.ru reported: "In a hiding place of the rebels in the village of Chozhi-chu, Achkoi-Martan District of Chechnya, boxes were discovered containing humanitarian aid that had been brought into [the republic] by the Danish Refugee Council.... All the boxes... MORE