:* New theory circulates on Grozny bombing* Another website quashed* From zachistki to night raids* Moscow lobbies State Department* Too soon for a referendum?* Kadyrov v Babich, the upper hand* "Stalin was right"? NEWS

Agence France Presse reported on January 24 that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has abandoned efforts to try to persuade Moscow to admit OSCE human rights monitors back into Chechnya. A European delegate to the OSCE council reportedly said that the mission... MORE

The Moscow daily Novye Izvestia suggested on January 22 that one of Russia's security agencies might be responsible, indeed, might have conducted the December 27 truck bombing of the Grozny headquarters of the Moscow-appointed administration for Chechnya. The paper cited a previous statement from the... MORE

Anna Politkovskaya reported in the January 23 issue of Novaya Gazeta that the recent trial of Yury Budanov included a consultation with a British psychiatrist. The findings of Dr. Stewart Turner, a member of the Royal College of Physicians, were set forth in a 100-page... MORE

According to a report released on January 20 by UNICEF, some "110,000 displaced Chechens remain in Ingushetia." The UN relief agency also calculates that there are another 140,000 internally displaced people within the republic, who have judged it unsafe to return to their homes.

How much is the Chechnya war costing Russian taxpayers? Igor Andreyev of Novaya Gazeta asked that question of Arkady Baskaev, who commanded Russia's Grozny garrison in 1995 and is now a member of the Duma. In a January 23 interview, the deputy replied that none... MORE

The Chechen Committee for National Salvation has lost its website, apparently to political pressures in Russia. In a January 22 press release, the pro-separatist body said that it had received an email message from its Russia-based Internet server (Mastak.ru), informing its client that the website's... MORE

Recent months have seen a significant change in the Russian forces' tactics in Chechnya, according to one of Russia's most respected human rights organizations. Eliza Musaeva, who heads the office of Memorial in Ingushetia, told Radio Liberty that "the military has stopped their massive 'mopping-up'... MORE

The Russian government is continuing to lobby the U.S. State Department to classify the Chechen separatist movement as "terrorist." Last week the Russian news media highlighted remarks by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who said in a January 23 interview with the radio... MORE