There was also a large battle on July 13 near the village of Avtury in the Shali district southeast of Grozny. The official Itar-Tass news agency admitted in a July 14 report that the combat ended with the capture of 12 servicemen from the "presidential... MORE

Seven Russian soldiers were killed and five wounded in Chechnya during a 24-hour period ending on July 17, an unnamed official of the republic's pro-Moscow administration told the Associated Press. Two of the deaths took place in a firefight with rebel guerrillas in the southern... MORE

Aslan Maskhadov, president of Chechnya's underground secessionist government, said in an e-mail communication to the Reuters news agency last weekend that attacks similar to the June raid on Ingushetia may be repeated in other parts of Russia. While disavowing any personal participation in the attack... MORE

The Russian public continues to be pessimistic about the war in Chechnya, according to the latest findings of the independent, widely respected Levada polling center. The center published a summary and analysis on its website (www.levada.ru) on July 14. In May, 61 percent of those... MORE

According to a recent poll conducted by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) and published in Novye izvestia on July 17, two-thirds of Russians surveyed (67.6 percent) consider that the rising young generation of Chechens—those who are now 10 to 12... MORE

On July 14, the election authorities of the pro-Moscow administration in Grozny formally closed the reception of registration documents from would-be candidates for president in the August 29 special election. According to the authorities, 13 candidates filed the necessary documents in proper form before last... MORE

As predicted by various well-placed sources in Moscow earlier this month (see Chechnya Weekly, July 7), General Anatoly Kvashnin has been fired from his position as chief of staff of the Russian armed forces. He and several other high-ranking officers are clearly being made to... MORE

Apparently for the first time, an official of Ingushetia's Prosecutor's Office has specifically admitted the existence of a phenomenon which has long been discussed by journalists and human-rights activists: the involvement of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in kidnapping Ingush civilians and transporting the across... MORE

The Prava Cheloveka v Rossii (Human Rights in Russia) website provide additional details on July 13 further confirming that Chechen refugees in Ingushetia are now coming under sharply increased pressure to leave even the small settlements that have remained since the forcible closing of the... MORE

Last week's Moskovskie novosti reported that the two Russian intelligence-agents sentenced to life in prison for murdering a Chechen extremist in Qatar have filed an appeal to a higher court. RIA Novosti reported on July 15 that the appeal will not be considered by the... MORE