In a "planned rotation," Lieutenant General Vladimir Moltenskoi has been named commander of the Russian Combined Group of Forces in Chechnya, replacing Colonel General Valery Baranov, who becomes deputy commander of the North Caucasus Military District (Lenta.ru, October 5). On the night of October 7-8,... MORE

During the first week of October, a number of influential American commentators and newspaper editorial boards sharply questioned what they saw as the beginnings of an unwise and excessive embrace of the Putin regime by the Bush administration, especially in relation to the armed conflict... MORE

During the first week of October, three Russian journalists, representing different points on the political spectrum, published analyses of the situation in Chechnya suggesting that Russian policies toward the republic are deeply flawed. Leading military journalist Pavel Felgenhauer, writing in the weekly Moskovskie Novosti (no.... MORE

The chances of a negotiated settlement of the Russo-Chechen conflict--which had never been particularly good--took a nosedive last week when Russian presidential spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky seemed to brush aside peace overtures by Chechen separatist President Aslan Maskhadov. On October 9 the newspaper Kommersant-Vlast published an... MORE

In an interview with the newspaper Izvestia, presidential aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky maintained that there definitely were Islamic "mercenaries" who had been trained in Osama bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan who were currently fighting in Chechnya. At present, he noted, the number of such mercenaries is... MORE

On October 7, the European-based website Ichkeria.org reported that award-winning Russian war correspondent Anna Politkovskaya has been sent to Vienna, Austria by the editorial board of her newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, "out of considerations for her safety." In an interview with a Vienna website, Politkovskaya explained... MORE

The Prague Watchdog has reported that residents of the Chechen Republic have been staging protests against a call-up of their sons into the Russian military. On October 5, some 500 people picketed the building of the district military headquarters in Shali, while similar rallies were... MORE

There are preliminary reports that a new mass grave containing the bodies of Chechen civilians has been discovered in Djohar. According to a October 14 report by the Australian Broadcasting Company, "Police say the remains of twelve men and women, who apparently were murdered, have... MORE

In an interview with journalist Megan Twohey of the Moscow Times, the new U.S. ambassador to Russia, Alexander Vershbow, commented on the subject of Chechnya: "The Chechnya issue is a very tricky one. We're trying to walk a very fine line. We continue to have... MORE