DID "INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS" ENDORSE REFERENDUM? Pro-Kremlin media gave the impression on March 23 and March 24 that "international observers" had independently monitored the constitutional referendum and had found it to be free, fair and "in accordance with international standards." Typical was a March 23 Interfax... MORE

At a March 25 policy briefing hosted by the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, a State Department official said that the referendum would not constitute a "turning point" for U.S. policy. Mike Morrow, deputy director of the State Department's Office of Russian Affairs, said... MORE

Even before announcing the final results of the referendum, the head of Russia's Central Election Commission said on March 23 that the presidential elections in Chechnya would most likely take place in December--on the same day as the elections for the federal parliament. It did... MORE

Chechen guerrillas may have succeeded in downing two Russian helicopters three days before the referendum. The military lost radio contact with both MI-24 gunships on March 20, when they were escorting larger helicopters carrying Russian infantrymen on a combat mission. On that day the Ministry... MORE

Add one more to the list of independent eyewitnesses who flatly deny Russian claims of a huge turnout for Chechnya's March 23 constitutional referendum. Nathalie Nougayrede of Le Monde told Radio Radicale on March 25 that she saw no long lines at polling stations in... MORE

A fact-finding team from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which visited Chechnya on referendum day, found several "irregularities" in voting procedures, according to a confidential OSCE report. Though the OSCE has not issued any public statement about that visit, Jamestown obtained... MORE

In a live interview with Akhmad Kadyrov aired on March 26, Vladimir Varfolomeyev of the radio station Ekho Moskvy made a crucial distinction--one that has rarely been made either before or since the referendum. Varfolomeyev asked Kadyrov if it had been possible for Chechens who... MORE

Police harassment of ethnic Chechens living in Moscow has significantly increased since the October hostage crisis, according to a briefing paper from Human Rights Watch. The paper, available via the Human Rights Watch website (https://www.hrw.org/), concludes that "although Russia's President Vladimir Putin to his credit... MORE

The Russian delegation to the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly received another reminder on March 31 that at least some members of that body will continue asking tough questions about human rights in Chechnya despite the recent resignation of Britain's Lord Judd. Germany's Rudolf Bindig,... MORE

The much publicized, though vague, suggestions about amnesty in Chechnya that President Putin and others floated during the days just before the referendum may turn out to have a hidden side: They may include criminal immunity for Russian servicemen who have committed atrocities against Chechen... MORE