Will the Kremlin use Chechnya's October 5 presidential election to rid itself of the troublesome Akhmad Kadyrov? The August holiday period, often a time for behind the scenes political maneuvering in Moscow, has seen the anti-Kadyrov forces within the Putin administration gaining confidence. Several prominent... MORE

As of August 12, reports from the Russian authorities regarding their efforts to solve the August 1 terrorist bombing in Mozdok continued to be full of assurances--but these assurances remained noticeably vague. Aleksandr Savenkov, Russia's top military prosecutor, told journalists on August 12 that the... MORE

On August 8 the U.S. State Department published in the Federal Register an official determination that Shamil Basaev "has committed, or poses a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy... MORE

Yury Budanov, the former Russian tank commander found guilty on July 27 of murdering a Chechen girl (see Chechnya Weekly, July 31), may go free long before the end of his ten-year sentence. The Agenstvo politicheskikh novostei (Political News Agency) reported on August 12 that... MORE

The August 12 issue of Izvestia includes a long, detailed interview by correspondent Vadim Rechkalov with a former rebel guerrilla who accepted the Putin-Kadyrov amnesty two months ago. Aslan Elmurzaev, a member of the guerrilla band led by Ruslan Gelaev, claimed that he gave himself... MORE

Nearly 800 refugees at Ingushetia's Bella camp, near the border with Chechnya, sent an open letter on August 8 to Ingush President Murat Zyazikov. In it, the refugees protested a recent visit from Russian Interior Ministry officials, during which, they said, they had been "officially"... MORE

Medecins Sans Frontieres issued a strong protest on August 12 over the lack of progress in a case involving its kidnapped volunteer--Arjan Erkel. Dr. Morten Rostrup, head of MSF, called the failure to produce results a "scandal," one that he said "can only be attributed... MORE

Major General Yury Rozhin, head of the FSB's directorate for Chechnya, told Dmitry Semenov of the Kremlin-controlled website Strana.ru in an interview published on August 12 that although he considers the situation in Chechnya to be "stable," he nevertheless expects that it will continue to... MORE

The Russian authorities continue to assert that the conflict in Chechnya is being "normalized" and demilitarized; that is, they claim the conflict is being turned into a police operation rather than a war. But according to an August 12 report in Nezavisimaya gazeta, the number... MORE

The Moscow political commentator Andrei Piontkovsky wrote in an August 8 commentary for the Politcom.ru website that "Russia Has Lost the War in Chechnya," and that "the attitude of Russian society toward the Chechen war is highly irrational." He continued: "As a television product the... MORE