The United Nations Commission on Human Rights, which in recent years has been dominated by nations that are themselves notorious violators of human rights, voted as expected on April 14 to reject a resolution about human rights violations in Chechnya. The proposed text, sponsored by... MORE

Last weekend brought another indication that Russia and Qatar may be able to negotiate a settlement in their dispute over the alleged involvement of Russian intelligence operatives in the assassination of a Chechen extremist. The head of the Russian Security Council, Igor Ivanov, met with... MORE

The distinguished French journalist Sophie Shihab has written regularly about Chechnya for Le Monde and other periodicals since well before the outbreak of the first Chechen war a decade ago. To this day she continues to bypass the Russian authorities’ information blockade by visiting Chechnya... MORE

The April 15 issue of Novaya gazeta included a long article by Anna Politkovskaya about the deteriorating situation in Ingushetia, including Soviet-style censorship of the local mass media. She found that the media do not publish one word about kidnappings and other extra-judicial punishments. A... MORE

The dispute between the Kadryov administration and Gazprom, Russia’s powerful natural gas monopoly, has finally been settled, according to an April 14 article by Aleseik Grivach in Vremya novostei. Kadyrov and Gazprom head Aleksei Miller signed a five-year cooperation agreement on April 13 covering such... MORE

A startling admission can be found buried deep within a recent interview given by a high ranking official of the administration of Akhmad Kadyrov. The official, Deputy Premier Adlan Magomadov, who also serves as Kadyrov's representative in Moscow, was unable to provide any evidence of... MORE

The German human rights organization Gesellschaft fuer bedrohte Voelker ("Society for Threatened Peoples;" website www.gfbv.de) warned in an April 22 statement that the authorities in several German states are moving to deport Chechen refugees back to Russia. Chechens living in the states of Hamburg, Lower... MORE

In what can only be interpreted as a strong new confirmation of his confidence in the Putin administration's backing for his continued rule in Chechnya, Akhmad Kadyrov has identified and denounced a specific atrocity committed by the federal armed forces. This is a novelty, and... MORE

Aleksandr Litvinenko, the former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) now living in the United Kingdom, shared with the pro-separatist "Chechenpress" website his thoughts about the current assassination trial in Qatar. Contrary to the claims of his former colleagues, Litvinenko insisted that the... MORE

Despite Akhmad Kadyrov's striking success in winning what amounts to monopolistic personal control over Chechnya's internal political institutions, he still has strong opponents in the federal power structures. Last week President Vladimir Putin's personal representative to the southern federal okrug joined his voice to those... MORE