A group of around 50 people, mostly women, gathered on July 26 in front of the offices of Chechnya’s human rights ombudsman in Grozny to protest the disappearance of relatives, Kavkazky Uzel reported. According to the website, the protesters held placards that read “Return Our... MORE

President Vladimir Putin on July 20 presented awards to security operatives involved in anti-terrorist operations, including those who carried out the operation to eliminate Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basaev. The ceremony was held behind closed doors, and the New York Times on July 21 quoted... MORE

Kommersant reported on July 26 that the Russian government’s commission for Chechen reconstruction, headed by Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref, was in Grozny on July 25 to examine the Chechen government’s use of federal reconstruction funds. President Vladimir Putin’s envoy to the Southern... MORE

Seven full years into the latest Russian/Chechen war, the death of the leading Chechen warlord, Shamil Basaev, has created new conditions that the Kremlin is eager to exploit. This month’s Moscow-hosted G8 conference made it clear that the Western world has no interest in the... MORE

Russian and Chechen officials alike continued to discuss the offer of amnesty that the federal authorities offered to the rebels in Chechnya and the North Caucasus in the wake of the death of Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basaev. On August 1, Interfax reported that President... MORE

Indeed, like Memorial’s Orlov, other observers questioned the effectiveness of the federal authorities’ offer of amnesty to the rebels in Chechnya and elsewhere in the North Caucasus. On August 1, Kommersant quoted unnamed siloviki as saying that the Patrushev amnesty had thus far failed. “Only... MORE

On July 29, Chechnya’s parliament voted to propose constitutional changes that would allow President Vladimir Putin to run for a third term. According to the Associated Press, the Chechen lawmakers voted unanimously for a measure that called on the State Duma to seek the removal... MORE

On July 31, Kavkazky Uzel quoted from a report by the Memorial human rights group that stated, “Contemporary Chechnya is increasingly starting to resemble a medieval khanate.” Memorial said it had received a telephone call on July 28 from someone who reported that a severed... MORE

Two federal servicemen were killed in Ingushetia on August 3 when unidentified gunmen fired on a car carrying three members of a federal Interior Ministry mobile unit in Nazran’s Pliyevsky municipal district. According to Interfax, the third serviceman traveling in the car was unhurt. On... MORE

Chechen separatist foreign minister Akhmed Zakaev said in an interview posted on the separatist Chechenpress news agency’s website on July 28 that he would counter the new criminal case that the Russian authorities had launched against him for allegedly inciting ethnic hatred (Chechnya Weekly, July... MORE