On November 7, Umar Dzhabrailov, Chechnya’s representative in the Federation Council and a close ally of Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, urged another close Kadyrov ally, Chechen People’s Assembly speaker Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, to initiate a measure calling on Kadyrov to become the republic’s president, thereby... MORE

Russian generals continue to stun the public with sensational statements about the situation in Chechnya. A month ago Colonel-General Yevgeny Baryaev, the commander of the Russian military group in Chechnya, predicted that early November could be very unstable because “the number of acts of sabotage,... MORE

Human Rights Watch on November 13 published a briefing paper on torture in Chechnya that it had prepared for the 37th session of the United Nations Committee against Torture. The paper covered torture by personnel of the Second Operational Investigative Bureau (ORB-2), torture by units... MORE

Several Russian newspapers reported that a worsening security situation in Chechnya (see Andrei Smirnov’s article below) is lessening the likelihood that Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov will replace Alu Alkhanov as the republic’s president. Other media, however, reported that Kadyrov continues to strengthen his position... MORE

The recent ambush of an OMON special police detachment by Chechen rebels in the mountainous Sharoi district and the recent flurry of alarming statements by Russian generals (Chechnya Weekly, November 9) have prompted the Russian media to focus again on the military situation in Chechnya.... MORE

At first glance, Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov’s position in the republic’s hierarchy was strengthened significantly on November 18, when one of his most vocal opponents, former Gorets special forces unit leader Movladi Baisarov, was shot and killed in Moscow. It is possible, however, that... MORE

Vyacheslav Izmailov, military columnist for Novaya gazeta, wrote in the bi-weekly’s November 20 edition that back on October 21, two weeks after the murder of the newspaper’s Chechnya correspondent, Anna Politkovskaya (Chechnya Weekly, October 12), another leading opponent of Ramzan Kadyrov, former Chechen vice premier... MORE

The apparent poisoning in London of former FSB lieutenant colonel Aleksandr Litvinenko (Chechnya Weekly, November 16) has grown into a major international scandal. Doctors and other specialists remain uncertain what substance poisoned Litvinenko, who accused the FSB of involvement in the 1999 apartment building bombings... MORE

On November 15 and 16, a video statement made by Anzor Astemirov, aka Emir Seyfullah, the leader of the rebels of Kabardino-Balkaria, a region in the North Caucasus, was posted on the rebel-based Camagat website as well as the Kavkaz Center website. Astemirov said that... MORE

The recent appointment of Hussein Djabrailov as a vice prime minister of Chechnya has generally been ignored by the media, despite the fact that this is a demonstration of the increasing strength of Ramzan Kadyrov's position in the republic as the Prime Minister of the... MORE