In November 2003, the FBI announced that it was launching an investigation into reputed links between the anti-Russian Chechen resistance and Al Qaeda as a result of the death of a US citizen who was killed in October 2002 during the storming of the Nord... MORE

The deterioration of the war in Chechnya has very serious consequences for security and stability in the entire Caucasus region. The Western media often accept the Russian version of events, in particular when it comes to branding the entire spectrum of Chechen resistance to Russian... MORE

Shortly before his death in March 2005, Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov made some interesting remarks about the spreading political violence in the Russian republics of the Northwest Caucasus. Maskhadov described the necessity of "broadening the front of military resistance" after the Russian invasion of Chechnya... MORE

The specter of the "Arab fighter" in Chechnya has increasingly become an inseparable part of the Russian-Chechen conflict, particularly since 9/11, as Kremlin propagandists used the presence of a few notable Arab mercenaries in the breakaway republic to brand the entire Chechen independence movement as... MORE

For several years Kremlin spokespersons have identified Turkey as the primary source of foreign jihadi volunteers (always referred to as naemniky, "mercenaries" in official proclamations) fighting alongside their Chechen adversaries. One spokesman claimed "We keep killing armed Turkish citizens on Chechen territory" and another described... MORE

The March 2005 killing of Aslan Maskhadov was hailed by Russian officials as a sign of progress toward the restoration of Moscow's rule in the war-torn North Caucasian republic. But the wider trends in Chechnya and the North Caucasus betray a much bleaker picture. In... MORE

On December 29, President Vladimir Putin conferred Russia's highest award, the Hero of the Russian Federation, on Ramzan Kadyrov, the pro-Moscow Chechen government's first deputy prime minister and son of the late Chechen president. According to the corresponding presidential decree, the younger Kadyrov was awarded... MORE

President Putin on December 27 handed out awards to a variety of officials, artists and other VIPs, RIA Novosti reported. Among the recipients were Chechen President Alu Alkhanov, who received an Order of Bravery, and Ingushetian President Murat Zyazikov, who received a 4th degree For... MORE

Hundreds of people reportedly connected to the pro-Putin youth group Marching Together demonstrated near the home of actress Vanessa Redgrave in west London in December to protest her links to Chechen separatist emissary Akhmed Zakaev, Britain's Sunday Times reported on January 2. They also held... MORE

On December 23, two Russian military intelligence agents, who had been found guilty by a court in Qatar of the murder of former Chechen president and separatist leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, returned to Russia. Their return was a result of a special agreement between the governments... MORE