The Russian Foreign Ministry suffered another diplomatic defeat last week in its continuing campaign to pressure western countries to classify separatist Chechen diplomat Akhmed Zakaev as an "international terrorist." Zakaev spent four days in Norway, during which Moscow sent an indignant message to the Norwegian... MORE

Ramzan Kadyrov is now threatening publicly to apply to all separatist guerrillas what previously he has denied doing: retaliating against their relatives. Once again showing his lack of political finesse, he said last week that he would even appeal to the State Duma to authorize... MORE

Last week the 47-year-old Alu Alkhanov emerged as the man to beat in the upcoming special election for the presidency of Chechnya's pro-Moscow administration. (For details of Alkhanov's biography, see the June 9 issue of Chechnya Weekly). The pro-Moscow administration's Interior Minister received the Kadyrov... MORE

Last week the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting published an on-the-spot report by a Chechen journalist who prudently chose to remain anonymous, establishing more clearly than ever that the federal authorities have been on a bloody "witch hunt" since the May 9 assassination... MORE

One point on which both unionist and secessionist Chechens are agreed is that the federal government should pay financial compensation to their countrymen who were victims of persecution under Stalin. The pro-Moscow administration's State Council has issued a statement complaining that among all the ethnic... MORE

In what appeared to be a bold escalation in tactics and targeting by Chechnya's separatist guerrillas, the headquarters of Ingushetia's interior ministry in the republic's capital of Nazran was seized on the evening of June 21 by gunmen shouting an Islamic slogan popular among those... MORE

"We tried to approach the Russian government with our proposal several times. We told them, 'Let's stop this war ourselves without involving anyone into this process.' We are fighting to eliminate the danger to the very existence of the Chechen people. And where does this... MORE

Removing whatever slight shade of doubt might have existed about his willingness to accept the artificially engineered "draft Alkhanov" campaign of the last few weeks, Alu Alkhanov visited President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on June 15, RIA Novosti reported. The Kadyrov clan's chosen presidential candidate... MORE

Leaders of Russia's most prominent independent human rights organizations have proposed that the special election for the presidency of Chechnya, scheduled to take place on August 29, be postponed. As their joint statement of June 15 put it, "the current situation in the Chechen Republic... MORE

The escalating dispute between the government of the Netherlands and the international medical charity Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), or MSF, constitutes another victory for the Russian secret police and a defeat for civilians in the North Caucasus and other hot spots dependent on... MORE