Some Russian media have speculated that the rebels killed in the Grozny shootout were in the Chechen capital to carry out attacks timed to coincide with the May 9 Victory Day holiday. This follows press reports earlier this month that Russia's special services, on the... MORE

A report from Grozny published on April 19 by the pro-Kremlin strana.ru website suggested that Chechen law-enforcement organs are too penetrated by rebel accomplices to take over responsibly for the fight against the separatists. The report's author, Amir Akhmadov, quoted Ramzan Kadyrov as insisting during... MORE

Dagestani First Deputy Prime Minister Gitinomagomed Gadzhimagomedov warned on April 19 that religious extremists, above all "Wahhabis," are continuing to try to seize power in Dagestan while working to destabilize the republic. Referring to the latest wave of attacks in the republic, Gadzhimagomedov said that... MORE

Novaya gazeta on April 14 published statements attributed to North Ossetian President Aleksandr Dzasokhov and the head of the republic's branch of the Federal Security Service, Valery Andreyev, indicating that it was senior federal FSB and Kremlin officials who were actually in charge of the... MORE

The First Channel (Russian state television) serves de facto as the most influential voice of the Putin regime, reaching as it does into nearly every village and hamlet in the vast sprawl that is the Russian Republic. One of the best-known political commentators on the... MORE

President Putin touched on the North Caucasus generally and Chechnya specifically in his annual State of the Nation address, which he delivered to the Russian parliament on April 25. "I hope for energetic work to strengthen security in the southern part of Russia and firmly... MORE

Kavkazky Uzel reported on April 23 that eight residents of the village of Starye Atagi in Chechnya's Groznensky district had been kidnapped over the previous month. The website cited the Council of Chechen Non-Governmental Organizations, which in turn cited testimony from villagers, who said that... MORE

On April 20, the Council of Europe released a report by its Commissioner for Human Rights, Alvaro Gil-Robles, based on his visits to Russia over July 15-30 and September 19-29 of last year. Gil-Robles' report included an account of his trip to Chechnya over September... MORE

Gen.-Major Ilya Shabalkin, spokesman for the Russian military operation in the North Caucasus, told Interfax on April 25 that Bukhari Gumkiev, mufti of a mosque in the village of Shelkovskaya, was murdered. According to Shabalkin, the preliminary results of an investigation into the incident indicated... MORE

Chechen First Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov claimed on April 27 that "terrorists who commit serious crimes in Chechnya" come into the republic from neighboring Dagestan, where they rest and "muster their strength" and then "drop in" to Chechnya for "the next terrorist act." Kadyrov... MORE