On July 2, the website Grani.ru reported, "After a year and a half of considering the case of [Colonel Yury] Budanov, on July 2 the court of the North Caucasus Military District, instead of passing a sentence, announced a decision to renew a judicial investigation... MORE

On July 1, General Vladimir Moltenskoi, commander of the Combined Group of Russian Forces in Chechnya, told a press conference at Khankala Military base that the withdrawal of Defense Ministry troops from the republic could be completed as early as the end of this year.... MORE

On July 5, a spokesman for the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, a human rights organization, told Interfax that Abu Walid, an Arab who had succeeded Jordanian-born Khattab as commander of Wahhabi forces in Chechnya after Khattab's death, "was killed in crossing the Khul-Khulao River" during a... MORE

On July 1, the Associated Press reported: "More than 10,000 refugees in Ingushetia have applied to return home [to Chechnya] and the number is growing every day, Ingush President Murat Zyazikov said on June 30." "It is a voluntary process," Zyazikov emphasized. "The refugees will... MORE

What conditions await the returning IDPs in Chechnya? Reporting on a recent visit to the Chechen capital, correspondent Jens Hartmann of Die Welt wrote: "The [pro-Moscow] Chechen government is separated from its people by barbed wire, tank emplacements, and concrete walls.... The head of government,... MORE

Writing in the 28 June issue of Die Tageszeitung, correspondent Klaus-Helge Donath reported on a recent visit to the Chechen highland settlement of Shatoi, not far from the border with Georgia. In Shatoi District, there are currently 13,500 residents plus 6,000 Russian soldiers. Donath interviewed... MORE

On June 26, the website of the pro-Moscow Chechen administration, Chechenskaya Respublika, reported that "the authorities of Dagestan had approached the leadership of the Chechen Republic with an initiative to change the borders [of the two republics].... The government of Dagestan proposed to Chechnya to... MORE

Commenting on President George W. Bush's recent statement at the G-8 meetings in Canada that Russian President Putin "has been a stalwart in the fight against terror. He understands the threat of terror, because he has lived through terror," journalist Fred Hiatt asked on the... MORE

The July 3 issue of Moskovskie Novosti carried an interview with former U.S. national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski conducted by well-known journalist Sanobar Shermatova. Asked about the work of the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya, of which he is a leader, Brzezinski replied: "Our... MORE