Valentina Melnikova, head of the Committee of Soldiers Mothers of Russia and chairwoman of the United People's Party of Soldiers' Mothers, said that more than 25,000 Russian servicemen have been killed in Chechnya since the second war there began in 1999, Kavkazky Uzel reported on... MORE

The Memorial human rights center reported on June 15 that the beating of detainees has become endemic in the North Caucasus, Kavazky Uzel reported on June 15. "What is going on in the North Caucasus with those detained on suspicion of terrorism – strange deaths,... MORE

Chechnya's State Council held a session on June 15 devoted to the issue of combating kidnappings and searching for missing citizens during which it was stated that 63 criminal cases arising from 70 abductions have been opened in the republic since the beginning of the... MORE

Kavkazky Uzel reported on June 13 that there have recently been a number of abductions of relatives of rebels, but that the relatives of those kidnapped are afraid to discuss the cases. "Taking hostage the relatives of Chechen militants has already become the norm," a... MORE

Chechen rebel president Abdul-Khalim Sadulaev raised his profile somewhat over the past week, naming his vice-president and making several public statements. On June 17, the rebel leadership's State Defense Committee (GKO) of Ichkeria confirmed field commander Doku Umarov as vice-president. Sadulaev had named Umarov to... MORE

The Russian Prosecutor General's Office announced on June 16 that it had completed the investigation of last July's murder of the of editor-in-chief of the Russian version of Forbes magazine Paul Klebnikov and had established that the shooting of the American journalist was ordered by... MORE

The trial in North Ossetia's Supreme Court of Nur-Pashi Kulaev, the sole participant in the Beslan school seizure to be apprehended by the authorities and put on trial, continues to prove embarrassing to the authorities. According to the Gazeta (gzt.ru) and Kommersant websites, one of... MORE

Moskovsky komsomolets published an article on June 22 marking the first anniversary of the rebel raid on Ingushetia, in which 80 people were killed, 57 of them law-enforcement personnel. The article's author, Yulia Kalinina, drew much of her information from documents from the official investigation... MORE

An increasing number of observers have been pointing to a rise in instability and a growing crisis of authority in the North Caucasus. Perhaps the most important of these observers is none other than Dmitry Kozak, the presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District. On... MORE

On June 4, a special unit of Russian troops entered the Chechen village of Borozdinovskaya in the North of the republic. "They ordered us to lie on the floor with our faces down and to pull our t-shirts over our heads," a resident of the... MORE