In an interview with Thomas de Waal of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, the president of Ingushetia, retired FSB General Murat Zyazikov, sought to quash rumors that tens of thousands of Chechen IDPs taking shelter in the republic might be driven back against... MORE

In partnership with the Institute of Ethnology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Peace Mission in the North Caucasus, the Moscow-based Eurasia office of FEWER (Forum on Early Warning and Early Response) has issued a policy report entitled "Way to Peace in Chechnya"... MORE

On October 4, Georgian law enforcement sources confirmed that five Chechen separatist fighters detained on Georgian territory near the border between Georgia and Russia on August 3 and 5 had been turned over to Russia. Three days later, on October 7, Presidents Vladimir Putin and... MORE

On October 9, the pro-Putin website Strana.ru wrote: "The FSB of Russia confirms that special camps for sabotage and terrorist preparation exist on the territory of Georgia." The camps were said by Major General Arkady Edelev, deputy head of the FSB's Department for the Struggle... MORE

On October 11, the pro-Maskhadov website Chechenpress.com reported that one of the five Chechens extradited to Russia by Georgia, Khusein Aziev from the village of Roshni-Chu, was already dead. "The skull of the young man was broken by [a] beating.... The body of the killed... MORE

powerful blast ripped through a pro-Moscow police station in the Zavodskoi district of the Chechen capital on October 10. Some twenty-four persons were reported dead and about twenty wounded (NTVru.com, October 11). Gazeta.ru commented on October 11: "Separatists, seeking to punish their compatriots for collaborating... MORE

Writing in the October 8 issue of Polit.ru, polling specialist L.A. Sedov reported recent findings obtained by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM). When asked "how the situation in Chechnya has changed since V. Putin was elected president," 30 percent of... MORE

The October 9 issue of Gazeta.ru featured written replies by Russian presidential aide and chief spokesman for issues relating to Chechnya Sergei Yastrzhembsky to questions submitted by email by readers. Many of the questions, not surprisingly, concerned Chechnya and the present state of Russian-Georgian relations.... MORE

Concerning the whereabouts of major Chechen field commander Ruslan Gelaev, Yastrzhembsky wrote: "Such information as I possess suggests that Gelaev is not in Chechnya." The following day, however, Colonel General Konstantin Totsky, the director of the Russian Federal Border-guard Service, asserted that "Gelaev may be... MORE