Summary of the main news related to the conflict in Chechnya. Compiled by Prague Watchdog.
Monday, September 30
Vice-Premier of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Akhmed Zakayev said in an interview for Chechen news agency Chechenpress that the "amendments to the Constitution of Chechen Republic of Ichkeria" published by Kavkaz.org on September 10 (see PW's Week in Brief for Sept 9-15) are illegitimate.
Tuesday, October 1
Viktor Popkov Information and Analytical Centre published an appeal in which Russian journalists and human rights defenders call on their colleagues and public figures to correct the terms used when covering the events in Chechnya. By describing the operations of Chechen resistance fighters as terrorist acts, one spreads the false official ideology presenting the war as a struggle against terrorism and banditry, the appeal writes.
According to a rough estimate, over 10,000 civilians have been killed in Chechnya since the outbreak of the current war in 1999 to date, Russian human rights organization Memorial said in a letter made public in response to recent media reports.
An unknown man shot at the car with Zelimkhan Kadyrov, the son of the head of the pro-Moscow Chechen administration Akhmad Kadyrov, in the Novogroznenski village of the Gudermesski district. Only one security guard was wounded.
Wednesday, October 2
No major events.
Thursday, October 3
The military court in Rostov-on-Don prolonged the term of pre-trial detention of Colonel Yuri Budanov, who has been accused of kidnapping and killing 18-year-old Chechen girl Elza Kungayeva, until January 2003 because the final forensic expertise of his psychological and psychiatrical state has not been made available to the court yet.
Friday, October 4
Georgia extradited to Russia five of 13 Chechens detained at the Georgian-Russian border in early August.
In a statement published by Chechen news agency Chechenpress, Foreign Minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Ilyas Akhmadov rejected Russian media reports that he had resigned. Russian media recently reported that Akhmadov was seeking political asylum in the United States.
The leader of Chechen fighters in Grozny, Murat Yusupkhadzhiyev, was killed, the headquarters of the Russian "anti-terrorist operation" in the North Caucasus reported.
Deputy chief of Chechnya's Criminal Investigation Department of the Russian Interior Ministry Captain Vakha Mamayev was kidnapped by several camouflaged and masked men from his house in the Oktyabrskoye village near Grozny on the night from October 3 to October 4.
Saturday, October 5
Human rights oraganization "Memorial" sent an open letter to Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, asking him not to extradite Chechen citizens to Russia, where they would probably be beaten, tortured or even killed during interrogation.
In a statement published by Chechen news agency Chechenpress, Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov described the extradition of five Chechen detainees to Russia as a mistake and called on the Georgian leadership to avoid making moves capable of harming the Chechen-Georgian relations.
Sunday, October 6
At the CIS summit in the Moldovan capital of Chisinau, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze reached agreement on "key issues", including the creation of joint patrols at the Russian-Georgian border.
The views expressed on this web site are the authors' own, and don't necessarily reflect the views of Prague Watchdog, which aims to present a wide spectrum of opinion and analysis relating to events in the North Caucasus.
