Russia supposedly has military conscription for all healthy young males, but the Novosti news agency reported on October 28 that Chechens are not being drafted this year—even though the federal armed services are facing a personnel shortfall of some 20,000 men. Nezavisimaya gazeta quoted Yevgeny... MORE

Disregard of the Geneva Convention and other rules of civilized warfare has long since become routine on both sides in Chechnya, as was shown again on October 31 by a deliberate attack by separatist guerrillas on wounded servicemen of the republic's pro-Moscow administration who were... MORE

A rare glimpse at the activities of the pro-Moscow forces commanded by Chechen warlord Sulim Yamadaev came in an article published by Le Monde on October 27. The Paris daily's correspondent Natalie Nougayrède managed to interview a young soldier identified only as "Aslan," a member... MORE

A disagreement within Chechnya's underground separatist government became public over the weekend as one aide to its president Aslan Maskhadov rebuked another for stating that Maskhadov's resignation could be part of a peace agreement. Umar Khambiev, health minister in the separatist government, was that government's... MORE

The Prosecutor General's Office announced on November 5 that it will check the claims made in a leading Russian newspaper that more terrorists were involved in the Beslan hostage seizure than previously admitted officially. "Even though the investigation team had solid evidence that there were... MORE

Russia's Foreign Ministry last week accused a Canadian newspaper of giving a platform "to murderers and terrorists whose hands are stained with the blood of Russian people, including Beslan children," for publishing an article based on an e-mail interview with Shamil Basaev. The Globe and... MORE

Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's first deputy prime minister and son of the republic's slain pro-Moscow president, once again raised eyebrows with several comments over the last week. On November 8, he told journalists that a rebel fighter, who had claimed responsibility for the May 9 bombing... MORE

A report released on November 5 by the leading international body monitoring internal displacement worldwide has accused Russia of pressuring Chechen refugees to return home. The report, "Trapped in Displacement: Internally Displaced People in the OSCE Area," was prepared by the Geneva-based Global IDP Project,... MORE

On November 3, Chechen Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov announced during a meeting in Grozny that the number of terrorist acts had decreased so far this year by 36 percent across Chechnya and by 43 percent in Grozny, compared with same period last year. Kavkaz.strana.ru quoted... MORE

"Today in Chechnya there is no one with whom to hold negotiations. There is no opposite side in the sense of something organized from the political or juridical-legal point of view. It is simply a rabble! There is already not a conflict there. All of... MORE