The new wave of guerrilla activity in Chechnya and Ingushetia—so dramatically different from the Putin administration's repeated assurances of "normalization"—has led to a new wave of rumors about the possibility of a radical change in the administration's policy. Unfortunately the most likely change does not... MORE

One of Russia's most well-connected, pro-establishment business leaders urged the Putin administration to open informal talks with Aslan Maskhadov, president of Chechnya's underground separatist government, in spite of Maskhadov's claim of responsibility for the recent guerrilla raid on Ingushetia. Arkady Volsky told Ekho Moskvy radio... MORE

Harassment and intimidation of Chechen refugees in Ingushetia continued last week. The Prima human-rights news agency reported on July 28 that 50 "officers of security structures" had raided the Kristall refugee camp in Nazran on the previous day and detained five male refugees. This time... MORE

An article by Aleksandr Yelisov published in Moskovsky komsomolyets on July 30 deepens questions about the relations between the Russian security agencies and the terrorist warlord Shamil Basaev. Most of the article is a light, slice-of-life description of relatives of Basaev who live in the... MORE

Last week an appeals court in Qatar turned down the bid of two convicted Russian intelligence officers to have overturned the life prison sentences which they had received at the end of June for the February assassination of former Chechen separatist Zelimkhan Yandarbiev. The Itar-Tass... MORE

The explosion in Grozny on May 9, 2004 threw the Russian leadership into disarray. The death of Akhmad Kadyrov, as well as the drastic deterioration of the security situation in Chechnya that followed, represented the first serious challenge to Vladimir Putin during his second term.... MORE

As readers will recall from the July 28 issue of Chechnya Weekly, the strongest rival to the Kremlin's preferred candidate in this coming weekend's special election for the presidency of Chechnya's pro-Moscow administration was forced out of the race last month. The election authorities claimed... MORE

A group of Chechen public figures led by Ruslan Khasbulatov, former speaker of the Russian Federation's parliament, has issued a written appeal to Vladimir Putin protesting the one-sided use of "administrative resources" to help the Kremlin's favored candidate Alu Alkhanov. The joint statement charged that... MORE

As if the exclusion on technical grounds of Alu Alkhanov's one serious rival in the August 29 election were not sufficient, the authorities of Chechnya's pro-Moscow administration have now conducted a security raid on the home of another candidate. It would seem that the raid... MORE

Despite continuing rumbles of discontent from the "siloviki" of the Moscow center's security agencies, new signs are appearing that Alu Alkhanov will be able to increase the pro-Moscow administration's control of federal subsidies after his near-certain victory in the upcoming August 29 special election. According... MORE