: * Facts unclear on Galashki incident* Gelaev takes credit...* ...Ivanov gets tough* Tbilisi: everything is under control* Russia's journalists weigh in* "There is only one way out"?* Perspective: Showdown with PACE? NEWS

Early on the morning of September 26, fierce fighting broke out between a detachment of separatists under the command of Abdul Malik--a Russian convert to Islam reporting to the legendary Chechen field commander, Ruslan [Khamzat] Gelaev--and Russian federal forces near the village of Galashki in... MORE

During a brief telephone conversation with a reporter from Agence France Presse, Ruslan Gelaev, who claimed that he was located in Chechnya close to Ingushetia, took responsibility for the raid. "We said we would strike where we were not expected," he recalled. "The operation has... MORE

During a visit to Warsaw, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov affirmed, "If the terrorists cross or try to cross the Russian border, we will not wait until they commit terrorist acts. Any civilized country would do the same." Asked whether the incident in Galashki represented... MORE

On September 27, Civil Georgia reported that the Georgian Minister of the Interior, Koba Narchemashvili, had announced that the military phase of the Georgian operation in the Pankisi Gorge had ended. Chechen guerillas, he stated, are no longer in the gorge or in surrounding areas.... MORE

In an article entitled "The Carpet Bombing of Georgia," which appeared in the September 24 issue of Nezavisimaya Gazeta, journalist Andrei Savitsky wrote that the Russian military were drawing up elaborate plans for attacks on Georgia that would "cut off the penetration of the rebels... MORE

In a lengthy interview appearing in the September 24 issue of Novye Izvestia, former speaker of the Russian State Duma and secretary of the Russian Security Council Ivan Rybkin warned against a Russian military intervention in the Pankisi Gorge: "Imagine," he said, "Russian paratroopers will... MORE

On September 24, Vladimir Elagin, Minister of the Russian Federation for the Affairs of Chechnya, underlined with some heat that neither Ivan Rybkin nor Maskhadov's representative Akhmed Zakaev "has any real power to conduct negotiations on the Chechen problem." "This is pure politics," Elagin stated... MORE

On September 27, the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) reported the results of a new nationwide poll taken during the period September 20-23. Asked the question "Do you consider that it is necessary to continue the military operation in Chechnya or... MORE

In an article entitled "Akhmad Kadyrov Has Been charged with Destroying Terrorism in Its Lair," the September 26 issue of Kommersant reported that, on the previous day, at the offices of the Russian presidential administration in Moscow, a closed session had been held by officials... MORE