Writing in the no. 43 (October 25) issue of Obshchaya Gazeta, a well-known Russian political analyst, Dmitry Furman, offered some tongue-in-cheek comments about the present state of Russian-Georgian relations, especially as they relate to the conflict in Chechnya. "The Russian elite," Furman observed, "does not... MORE

During a visit to Baku on October 23, Russian Minister of the Interior Boris Gryzlov called upon the leadership of Azerbaijan to extradite all Chechen refugees currently living in that state back to Russia. Gryzlov termed Chechnya "a den of terror." "If we agreed on... MORE

With the process of "Chechenization" spearheaded by the pro-Moscow head of the Chechen administration, Akhmad Kadyrov, moving vigorously forward, it appeared that the Kremlin had taken a reasonably firm decision to downgrade the just-commenced negotiations with the Chechen separatists, in effect relegating them to a... MORE

On November 1--in an issue actually posted on October 31--the newspaper Izvestia reported that Russian plenipotentiary presidential representative in the Southern Federal District Viktor Kazantsev had that day held a conversation with Akhmed Zakaev, a representative of Chechen separatist president Aslan Maskhadov. Relying on sources... MORE

In an indication that the "Chechenization" of the conflict now apparently being promoted by the Russian leadership was encountering rough sledding, the newspaper Kommersant reported that, on October 29, some 200 residents of the village of Komsomol'skoe had come to Chechnya's "second city," Gudermes, and... MORE

On October 27, NTV reported that "the Chechen refugee camps in Ingushetia are in an emergency situation." According to the Federal Migration Service, approximately 150 new refugees from Chechnya are arriving in Ingushetia each day, and the authorities in that republic are unable to provide... MORE

The closed, secret trial of five residents of Karachaevo-Cherkessia--none of them ethnic Chechens--charged with preparing the explosions of two apartment complexes in Moscow in September of 1999, events which served to precipitate a second Russian invasion of Chechnya--which is presently taking place on the outskirts... MORE

An article entitled "The 'Caucasus Eagles' of the Third Reich," appearing in the no. 10 (October 2001) issue of Spetsnaz Rossii, a publication of the veterans of the elite FSB special forces' unit "Alpha," maintained that the deportations of the Chechens and Ingush by Stalin... MORE

Writing in the October 26 issue of the newspaper Novye Izvestia, a well-known journalist, Valery Yakov, wrote that the Russian leadership, in an effort aggressively spearheaded by presidential spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky, had brought "overwhelming force" to bear on Russian journalists who were covering the war... MORE