President Vladimir Putin's special adviser on the North Caucasus region, Aslambek Aslakhanov, told a news conference in Moscow on April 4 that neither the Chechen authorities nor the law-enforcement bodies nor human rights activists know how many people have been kidnapped in Chechnya. "It is... MORE

The Washington Post on April 4 took the Bush Administration and European governments to task for failing to criticize Russia about human rights in Chechnya. The newspaper referred to the recent Human Rights Watch report on disappearances in Chechnya, which detailed 43 "enforced disappearances" that... MORE

The pro-Moscow Chechen authorities held a conference in Grozny on March 4, during which they resolved to ban "Wahhabism" as an "ideology of terrorists." Novye izvestia reported on April 5 that Chechen President Alu Alkhanov plans to sign a special decree related to the ban,... MORE

Deputy Prosecutor General for the Southern Federal District Nikolai Shepel announced on April 1 that Aslan Maskhadov had been shot to death by his guards in the bunker where he was allegedly hiding out in the village of Tolstoi-Yurt, Kommersant reported on April 2. Shepel... MORE

Ingushetian opposition leader Musa Ozdoev told gazeta.ru that the opponents of Ingushetian President Murat Zyazikov are planning to hold demonstrations in Nazran, Magas, Rostov-on-Don and Moscow on April 28 calling for Zyazikov's removal from office, the website reported on April 4. An unauthorized demonstration protesting... MORE

The retrial of Captain Eduard Ulman, who is accused along with three fellow GRU special forces officers of murdering six Chechen civilians, took an unexpected turn this week. The incident took place on January 11, 2002, in Chechnya's Shatoi district, when, according to Ulman's testimony,... MORE

Russia's Foreign Ministry charged that reports by the Qatar-based satellite television channel al-Jazeera "totally distort the real state of affairs in the Chechen Republic," grani.ru and Itar-Tass reported on March 31. The ministry said in a statement that the channel "hushes up the consistent efforts... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin spent the last days of March in his summer residence in Sochi, and the first guest to be invited was Chechen President Alu Alkhanov. The official footage of the meeting showed Putin reviewing with positive interest the plan for reconstructing several... MORE

When referring to events in Chechnya and the North Caucasus, the media often employs a one-sided interpretation of the term "jamaat." In most cases, the media interprets the term exclusively as a community united by a universal conviction that is basically religious in nature. However,... MORE

Russian special forces carried out an operation on April 15 against rebels holed up in an apartment building in Grozny. While six militants were killed in the ensuing battle – which lasted between seven and nine hours, depending on the press report – five Federal... MORE