On January 20, the regional branch of the Federal Security Service in Nizhny Novgorod summoned Stanislav Dmitrievsky, chief editor of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society's Information Center, for questioning. That same day, FSB officers raided the organization's offices in Nizhny Novgorod, seizing documents containing the contact... MORE

On January 21, just four days after Nikolai Gryaznov, head of the FSB directorate in Dagestan announced that the body of Rasul Makasharipov, a.k.a. "Muslim," was among the remains of five militants found in the ruins of a house on the outskirts of Makhachkala following... MORE

Tensions between the Dagestani and Chechen governments remain high following the January 10 detention of Zulai Kadyrova, the sister of Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's first deputy prime minister, who led a convoy of armed men to free her (see Chechnya Weekly, January 19). The prosecutor's office... MORE

On January 25, Russia's Foreign Ministry accused Novaya gazeta of spreading "disinformation" in an article published in the biweekly's January 24 issue and written by its award-winning Chechnya correspondent, Anna Politkovskaya. The article, headlined "The FSB Equipped Its Helsinki Group," claimed that Akhmad Zakaev, Chechen... MORE

Among Americans who do not follow political developments in Russia closely – that is, among the overwhelming majority of Americans – there exists an impression that ethnic Russians (who comprise 80 percent of the population of the Russian Federation) strongly support Putin's war in Chechnya.... MORE

Vladimir Kravchenko, the Chechen Republic's Prosecutor, announced on January 31 that his office had on January 27 opened eight criminal cases related to the kidnapping of Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov's relatives, Interfax reported. Kravchenko stressed that the cases were launched by the law-enforcement agencies... MORE

In what may be a first step toward limiting the power of Chechen First Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, Vladimir Savchenko, head of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Interior Ministry's Main Directorate in the Southern Federal District, announced on January 27 that a new... MORE

Apparently choosing to ignore the controversy swirling around him, Ramzan Kadyrov on January 25 joined Ksenia Sobchak, the socialite daughter of the late St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak, for the foundation-laying ceremony of a large water park in the Chechen town of Gudermes. The water... MORE

The Sub-Committee on Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's (PACE) Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights issued a statement last week expressing its concern over "the recent wave of new serious violations of human rights in the Chechen Republic."... MORE

Two graves with the bodies of six people were discovered on the outskirts of the village of Zamai-Yurt in Chechnya's Nozhai-Yurt district on January 29, Kavkazky Uzel reported on January 31. A law-enforcement source told the website that those buried in the two graves were... MORE