Chechenpress reported on December 5 that relatives of Chechen rebel leader had been taken hostage the previous day by "Russian occupiers and their armed accomplices from among the Kadyrovtsy" – an apparent reference to members of Chechen First Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov's presidential security service.... MORE

In the past decade, the Chechen war has had a profound and total impact on life in Russia. Its direct consequences include the death of thousands of human victims, enormous material expenditures that can be counted in millions of rubles, and the devastation of the... MORE

--PUTIN CONDEMNS ASYLUM FOR "TERRORISTS" President Vladimir Putin on December 3 lashed out at the United States and Great Britain for having granted political asylum to Ilyas Akhmadov and Akhmed Zakaev, respectively. "Providing safe haven and support to terrorists, their accomplices and sponsors actually serves... MORE

Perhaps for the first time in the past ten years, Azerbaijan has departed from the traditional path of peace negotiation on the Karabakh conflict and taken its case to the UN General Assembly. On November 23, the plenary meeting of the 59th session of the... MORE

The parliament of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria sent a telegram of support to the headquarters of Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko on November 23. "We support your struggle against dictatorship and Russian domination," Akhyad Idigov, head of the separatist parliament's foreign relations committee, said... MORE

Chechens held demonstrations on November 25-26 to protest the abduction of a resident of the village of Alkhan-Yurt in Chechnya's Urus-Martan district by unknown armed persons in the early hours of November 25. The Kavkazky Uzel website, citing the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, reported on November... MORE

The Chechen Times, citing the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, reported on November 26 that security forces detained two men during a zachistka in the Avtorkhan district of the capital, Grozny, on November 22. Earlier, on November 18, security forces had detained two young people during a... MORE

The pattern of kidnappings is not, unfortunately, restricted to Chechnya. The Chechen National Salvation Committee's website reported on November 26 that "unknown armed members of Russian power structures in masks and camouflage uniforms" had the previous day broken into a house being rented by the... MORE

The Chechen Times reported on November 26 that a mass grave containing the bodies of eleven unidentified young people, aged 12 to 20, was discovered near the Gudermes district village of Jalka on November 20. On November 19, a charred body was found near town... MORE

Chechen President Alu Alkhanov on November 26 delivered a report to a conference on "problems of the state's national policy in the Chechen Republic." He characterized the situation in Chechnya as "complicated but stable," Novye izvestia reported on November 29. In one part of his... MORE