On September 20, the website Grani.ru, citing Interfax, reported the results of a September 17-19 poll taken in Moscow by the All Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM). "An overwhelming number of Muscovites (71 percent)," the website noted, "opposed the [unilateral] introduction... MORE

The Combined Group of Russian Forces based in Chechnya, which presently numbers more than 80,000 troops, is to be beefed up still further. On September 18, Russian Minister of Internal Affairs Boris Gryzlov announced: "A decision has been taken to create a formation of special... MORE

Writing in the September 19 issue of the Moscow Times, leading Russian military journalist Pavel Felgenhauer sought to imagine what might occur if Russia attempted a unilateral incursion into the Pankisi Gorge: "The Kremlin," he wrote, "would have gone into Georgia to destroy the rebels... MORE

On September 17, at a press conference held in Moscow, Salambek Maigov, who had been a leading competitor to Aslan Maskhadov in the January 1997 Chechen presidential elections, endorsed former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov's suggestion that "the status of Finland in the [tsarist] Russian... MORE

In an interview published in the September 18 issue of Novye Izvestia, former U.S. national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski maintained: "It is commonly recognized that a peaceful regulation of the conflict in Chechnya would be in the interests of all involved parties and especially of... MORE

Recently the Russian authorities," a report appearing in the September 18 issue of Novye Izvestia noted, "have been taking unprecedented steps to put pressure on the Chechen refugees living on the territory of Ingushetia.... Up until now, the Chechen refugees have been surviving due to... MORE

On September 17, the chairman of the Russian Central Election Commission, Aleksandr Veshnyakov, announced that a referendum on a new [pro-Moscow] Chechen constitution would be conducted on December 14, 2003, together with the elections of deputies to the Russian State Duma (RIA Novosti, September 17).... MORE

Until rather recently, the website Gazeta.ru has served as a rather trustworthy source of information concerning the present conflict. On September 16, however, the English edition of the website reported the following: "Federal headquarters in Chechnya have received reports that Chechnya's separatist leader, Aslan Maskhadov,... MORE

Over the past week, analysts and journalists occupying various points on the Russian political spectrum have voiced their (often strong) opinions on the current crisis in Russian-Georgian relations as it relates to the charged situation in the Pankisi Gorge. First, there were the views of... MORE