Public support for the Russian war effort in Chechnya appears to be on the wane. A Russia-wide poll taken by the independent research center ROMIR in June found that only 33.7 percent of Russian citizens to one extent or another support the actions of the... MORE

On June 28, a conference provocatively entitled "Islamic Threat or Threat to Islam?" sponsored by the new social-political movement "Eurasia," opened in Moscow. The "Eurasia" movement had itself been founded, with much fanfare, in April of this year. Russian mass media at the time had... MORE

According to Andrei Mironov of the Russian human rights organization Memorial, as cited by Miriam Lanskoy of Boston University, Russian forces stationed in Chechnya recently committed an organized mass rape of Chechen civilian males. During a fact-finding trip to the North Caucasus, Mironov learned of... MORE

In an article titled "Fallings Out after a Pogrom," which appeared in the no. 29 (July 17-23) issue of Moskovskie Novosti, leading independent military journalist Pavel Felgenhauer focused on relations between the forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) and the Ministry of Defense... MORE

The separatist president of Chechnya, Aslan Maskhadov, sent an open letter on July 19 to the presidents and prime ministers of the G-7 countries on the eve of their summit meeting in Genoa. "If you acknowledge the quiet violence of poverty upon the destitute and... MORE

On July 18, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on the topic "The Putin Administration's Policies toward the Non-Russian Regions of the Russian Federation." The session was chaired by Senator Joseph Biden, with Senator Jesse Helms (the committee's minority leader) and Senator... MORE

On July 12 in Strasbourg, Lord Russell-Johnston, president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), issued a warning to Russia concerning the behavior of its troops on Chechnya. "In recent weeks," he began, "there has been mounting evidence of a rapidly deteriorating... MORE

During a joint session of the Presidium of the Russian State Council and the Presidential Commission on Delimiting Powers Among the Federal Organs of State Power, the Organs of State Power of the Subjects of the Federation, and Local Self-Government, President Mintimer Shaimiev of Tatarstan... MORE

The July 23 issue of Izvestia reported that an ethnic Russian, Oleg Zhidkov (born 1956), has been named the new mayor of Djohar (Grozny). Zhidkov spent twenty-seven years living in Chechnya and is a graduate of the Chechen-Ingush State University (major: physical education). From 1984-1992,... MORE