* Asylum for Zakaev?* Foreign relations growing strained* Kovalev: Russia is no democracy* Rybkin: There is no alternative to negotiations* Il'yasov to head Chechen affairs* Perspective: Are Putin and Ivanov of different minds? NEWS

For the Past Five Hundred Years Russia and Denmark Have Lived in Peace. What Has Changed?" asked the subtitle of an item appearing in the November 5 issue of Moskovskie Novosti. And in an update of events that have transpired in Denmark since October 30... MORE

On November 6, Oleg Orlov, chair of the Russian human rights organization Memorial, and Lyudmila Alekseeva, chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group and president of the International Helsinki Federation, released the text of an open letter to Danish Justice Minister Esperson, in which they wrote,... MORE

Due to the "Chechen question," Russia's relations became strained, not only with Denmark, but with a host of Western and Central European states as well. As journalist Dmitry Gornostaev underlined in the November 6 issue of the pro-Putin website Strana.ru: "The background for the European... MORE

According to a report in the November 6 issue of the Prague Watchdog, "The Russian Foreign Ministry today issued a statement in which it accuses Czech Television of supporting terrorists by broadcasting a documentary on the war in Chechnya. Czech Television, which broadcast the anti-war... MORE

On November 5, it was reported that "Russia today urged Lithuania to shut down a Chechen cultural center in Vilnius, but the foreign minister turned down the request," pointing out that "the center is a public institution, established in accordance with Lithuanian legislation and headed... MORE

On November 6, a website of the Russian human rights organization Memorial, Hro.org, published the text of an interview granted by Duma deputy and former Russian human rights commissioner Sergei Kovalev to the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung. Asked what could be done to avert future... MORE

At the Andrei Sakharov Center in Moscow on November 6, a meeting was held of the Public Committee to Investigate the Circumstances of the Explosions of the Apartment Buildings in Moscow and Volgodonsk and the Ryazan Exercises [of 1999]. Among those in attendance were Duma... MORE

In an interview appearing in the November 4 issue of the Frankfurter Rundschau, Ivan Rybkin, a former speaker of the Russian parliament and secretary of the Russian Security Council, was asked: "Are you still in favor of negotiations with Maskhadov after the hostage taking?" To... MORE

On November 6, former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov told Ekho Moskvy Radio in a live interview that, in his opinion, it is necessary to introduce special rule into Chechnya and to create the post of governor general of Chechnya, an official who "would report... MORE