The recent killing of Shamil Basaev was followed by the appearance of an extraordinary document called, “A Manifesto for Peace in Chechnya,” penned by Akhmed Zakaev, the foreign minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI). This document was apparently addressed to the members of... MORE

On August 10, an attempt was made on the life of Ingushetia’s Nazran district prosecutor, Girkhan Khazbiev. According to Newsru.com, a bomb went off at Khazbiev’s house in Nazran’s Oltievo municipal district at about 1 AM, Moscow time, after which he and members of his... MORE

Rebels in Dagestan carried out an operation on August 8 involving two apparently synchronized attacks, one of which killed a district prosecutor and the other narrowly missing Dagestan’s interior minister. On August 8, the Associated Press quoted Dagestani Interior Ministry spokeswoman Anzhela Martirosova as saying... MORE

Kommersant wrote on July 9 that immediately following the bombing that killed Buinaksk prosecutor Bitar Bitarov, investigators suspected that it had been carried out by Buinaksk businessmen who manufactured plastic tubing, against whom Bitarov had launched a criminal case for tax evasion. According to the... MORE

A series of explosions in Chechnya on August 6 partially destroyed six cell phone relay stations. On August 7, RIA Novosti quoted sources in Chechnya’s Interior Ministry as saying that bombs had simultaneously exploded at five relay stations that belonged to the Russian mobile phone... MORE

On August 9, Reuters quoted former inmates of a detention center in the Chechen capital as saying that beatings with bottles, sleep deprivation and threats of violence against relatives were routine forms of torture there. The news agency cited the testimony of former prisoners of... MORE

On August 8, Rossiiskaya gazeta published an excerpt from a decree signed by the Russian President on August 2. In the decree, Putin instructs the Defense Ministry and the Interior Ministry “to submit by December 15, 2006, in accordance with the established procedure, proposals to... MORE

Many observers have been predicting that Ramzan Kadyrov will assume the Chechen Republic’s presidency soon, after he reaches the constitutionally-mandated minimum age of 30 on October 5. On August 10, for example, Kommersant quoted Frants Klintsevich, deputy chairman of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party’s faction... MORE

According to some observers, the strains and splits inside Chechnya’s pro-Moscow administration raise doubts not only about whether Ramzan Kadyrov will assume the republic’s presidency, but about whether he will remain on the political scene in any capacity. In an interview with Radio Liberty’s Chechen-language... MORE

The Caucasus Times reported on August 16 that two Russian air force aircraft had carried out a missile and bomb strike on a forest area in Chechnya’s Nozhai-Yurt district that morning. The website quoted a source in the district’s Interior Ministry directorate as saying that... MORE