Summary of the main news related to the conflict in Chechnya. Compiled by Prague Watchdog.
Monday, September 9
The United Nations agencies resumed their humanitarian programme in Chechnya, suspended since 29 July following the abduction of Nina Davidovich, the head of UNICEF's implementing partner Druzhba. Rising humanitarian need among Chechen civilians was cited as the main reason for resumption of UN operations in the region.
Chechen fighters killed the head of the administration of the Nadterechny district Akhmed Zavgayev, whose brother Doku Zavgayev used to be a Moscow-backed head of the republic.
Tuesday, September 10
Chechen propaganda site Kavkaz.org published self-styled amendments to the Constitution of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, which refer to the Shari'ah law and which were reportedly adopted at the session of "Majlis al-Shura" of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria held on June 27 - July 4, 2002. No other Chechen agency commented on the issue.
Masked persons broke into the house of Lechi Yakhyayev, a Chechen journalist currently working as a spokesman for the head of the Moscow-backed administration Akhmad Kadyrov, and shot at him, causing him heavy injury.
The Chief of the Russian General Staff Anatoli Kvashnin arrived in Grozny for inspection. Having travelled around Grozny incognito by car, Kvashnin later criticized people's low familiarity with the civilian and military structures in the republic as well as the practice of bribe-taking at Russian military check-points.
Wednesday, September 11
Speaking in commemoration of the terrorist attacks on the USA on September 11, 2001, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is prepared to take adequate measures to resist "the terrorist threat coming from Georgia", namely the Pankisi gorge.
Thursday, September 12
Several dozen people, including members of the "Grazdanskoye sodeistviye" movement and Chechen refugees from a temporary accomodation facility in the Tver region, held a rally in front of the building of the Russian Interior Ministry in Moscow in protest against forced repatriation of refugees to Chechnya.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a special letter to the UN Secretary General, members of the UN Security Council and OSCE members, in which he accused Georgia in breaking the UN Security Council counter-terrorist resolution No. 1373, and asked support for all measures that Russia has been prepared to take to identify and disarm alleged terrorists in Pankisi gorge.
Friday, September 13
The Georgian Parliament approved to launch the process of accession to NATO and accused Russia of annexation plans under the guise of fight on terror.
OSCE Chairman-in-Office Antonio Martins da Cruz and Council of Europe Secretary General Walter Schwimmer urged Russia and Georgia to avoid escalation of tension.
The Russian National Committee "For the End of the War and the Establishment of Peace in the Chechen Republic" published a statement declaring that any attempt to invade Georgia will become an absolute catastrophe for Russia.
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.
