As part of its attempt to reconstruct what had happened during the storming, the website Gazeta.ru interviewed one of the actors who participated in the musical after he had been released from the hospital. The actor drew attention to a key announcement made by the... MORE

In a similar vein, Aleksandr Litvinenko, a former senior officer of the FSB now living in London, said during an October 29 interview with Radio Liberty's Russian Service: "About fifty persons, a majority of whom were dressed in camouflage uniforms, penetrated to the center of... MORE

During the past week, several items have appeared on pro-regime websites suggesting that a significant percentage, perhaps even a half, of the terrorists who seized the theater were foreigners (with the implication being that they were Arabs). However, in an interview with the newspaper Kommersant... MORE

Writing in the October 31 issue of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, well-known journalist Sanobar Shermatova wrote, inter alia, on the subject of Movsar Baraev and of his late uncle, the notorious Chechen Wahhabi warlord Arbi Baraev: "An investigation carried out by this... MORE

During the charged period of October 25-28, the polling organization The All Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) asked a nationwide sample a question it has been repeatedly posing since January 2000: "Do you consider that it is necessary to continue the... MORE

On October 29, Agence France Presse, reporting from the White House in Washington DC, wrote that Ari Fleischer, official spokesman for President George W. Bush, had emphasized that the American president wanted a "political dialogue" to end the conflict in Chechnya but worried that global... MORE

In an essay appearing in the October 30 issue of the Bangkok Post, former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov wrote, inter alia: "A year ago President Vladimir Putin offered negotiations between his representative and an envoy of Aslan Maskhadov.... That initiative collapsed because the Chechens... MORE

Writing in the October 28 issue of The Guardian, Lord [Frank] Judd, rapporteur to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Chechnya and co-chairman of the joint working group of the Council of Europe and Russian State Duma on Chechnya, observed: "The conclusion... MORE

During the hostage crisis of October 23-26, and in its immediate aftermath, spokesmen for President Putin and for the Russian power ministries repeatedly emphasized that talks are no longer possible with Aslan Maskhadov or with his chief negotiator, Akhmed Zakaev. On October 30, the Russian... MORE