A source in the Kadyrov administration told the Associated Press on August 16 that some fifteen federal soldiers had been killed and another forty wounded in attacks by separatist guerrillas over the previous twenty-four hours. In one gun battle, the rebels raided a military headquarters... MORE

The mainstream Moscow media are intensifying their accusations that "former" rebel fighters now serving in the Kadyrov administration's police continue to cooperate with the separatist guerrillas. According an article by Nikolai Yakorev in the August 14 issue of Nezavisimaya gazeta, a force of about twenty... MORE

Why have so few rebel guerrillas taken advantage of the amnesty offered by the Putin administration? The experience of one village in the southern highlands is revealing. Zulai Visingirieva, head of the village of Ulus-Kert, persuaded all the young men in the community who had... MORE

Several leading Chechens have criticized what some call the "black P.R." of Chechen state television, which has given free reign to pro-Kadyrov propaganda while excluding critics such as Aslan Aslakhanov. This is despite the fact that Aslakhanov represents Chechnya in the federal Duma. To cite... MORE

According to a Chechen human rights activist cited by Zoya Svetova of the newspaper Russky kurier on August 18, about 100 troops of Kadyrov's personal army recently took up positions in the west Chechen town of Achkhoi-Martan. The activist said that the Kadyrov gunmen clashed... MORE

In a surprising announcement, Khusein Dzhabrailov has withdrawn his candidacy for the presidency of Chechnya. The Moscow businessman, who had managed to win such potent endorsements as those of Bislan Gantemirov and Ruslan Khasbulatov, failed to give any substantive explanation for his decision. As reported... MORE

Concerns are mounting over the humanitarian crisis in Ingushetia, triggered by continuing reports that the Russian and Ingush authorities are forcing refugees to return to Chechnya against their will. A newer but no less alarming development is that state-sanctioned kidnappings of civilians, long familiar in... MORE

According to journalist Anna Politkovskaya's sources in Grozny, the role of Ramzan Kadyrov in his father's administration is in some ways reminiscent of that played in the 1990s by Boris Yeltsin's chief bodyguard, Aleksandr Korzhakov. In both cases, Politkovskaya writes, the head of the president's... MORE

One of the bodyguards of presidential candidate Malik Saidullaev claims that he was kidnapped last month by the Kadyrov administration's gunmen, who then tortured him until he pretended to agree to murder his own boss. The bodyguard gave a long interview to Anna Politkovskaya, who... MORE

By September 1, the final day for rebel guerrillas to surrender voluntarily under the amnesty proclaimed in June, it was abundantly clear that the amnesty program was a failure. The daily Kommersant reported on September 2 that, according to Sergei Fridinsky, head of the northern... MORE