According to various human rights NGOs and the Chechen Committee for National Salvation, "a serious situation has developed in Chechen refugee camps [located in Ingushetia], where tens of thousands of refugees will have to spend their third winter in torn, worn-out tents." The escalation of... MORE

On September 28, the official Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported that the Georgian authorities had proposed to major Chechen field commander Ruslan (Khamzat) Gelaev that he leave Georgia, together with his fighters. "According to some reports," Itar-Tass continued, "U.S. representatives visited Georgia in mid-September and... MORE

On September 26, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer responded to a question from a reporter as to whether "the United States is taking a softer line on Russia over Chechnya in return for the cooperation Putin has offered in this effort," by stating in... MORE

The past week also witnessed a number of developments connected with attempts by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)--a body in which the United States does not have membership--to help bring about an eventual peaceful resolution to the conflict in Chechnya. On... MORE

On September 26, the pro-Moscow chief prosecutor of Chechnya, Vsevolod Chernov, announced that his agency had completed an investigation into the "mopping up operations" which had been conducted by the Russian federal forces in the settlements of Assinovskaya and Sernovodsk on June 3-4 of this... MORE

As the last week of September began, the Russian media noted that President Vladimir Putin was growing increasingly frustrated over the lack of progress being made by the federal forces against the Chechen separatists. The newspaper Kommersant published an account of a meeting of the... MORE

Following President Putin's televised statement on Chechnya of September 24, highly tentative negotiations began between the two sides involved in the conflict (for a detailed treatment on this subject, see Chechnya Weekly, October 3). Akhmed Zakaev, a deputy premier of the separatist government, named by... MORE

At a press conference held in Moscow on September 29, Akhmad Kadyrov, head of the pro-Moscow Chechen civilian administration, discussed his recent trip to four Middle Eastern countries. At one point, according to the online daily Gazeta.ru, "Kadyrov said that in Iraq he had discovered... MORE

According to the prestigious polling organization the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM), the actions of Russian forces in Chechnya are now supported by 41 percent of Russian respondents, a 5 percent increase over July. Forty-four percent of respondents, by contrast, advocate... MORE