Summary of the main news related to the conflict in Chechnya. Compiled by Prague Watchdog.
Monday, August 19
114 persons, mostly military personnel, died and 33 were injured after Russian military transport helicopter Mi-26 crashed near Khankala, Russia's main military base in Chechnya. The helicopter was most probably hit by a rocket fired by Chechen fighters, who claimed responsibility for the attack. Russian authorities are still looking into the cause of the crash. Later on the death toll rose to 118.
Unknown persons attacked and beat Lechi Saligov, editor-in-chief of Chechen newspaper "Spravedlivost" and assistant to Russian MP Viktor Cherepkov, at the train station in Dedovsk, southwest of Moscow. Saligov started experiencing harassment and threats after he published an article on the activities of Aslanbek Aslakhanov (now Chechnya's MP to the Russian State Duma) in Chechnya during an attempted coup d'état in the Soviet Union in August 1991.
Tuesday, August 20
Russian ombudsman Oleg Mironov and the chief of the Moscow Helsinki Group Ludmila Alekseyeva launched their 3-day visit to refugee camps in Chechnya and Ingushetia (news conference scheduled for August 26). During the visit Mironov and Alekseyeva sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin in which they called on him to interevene and help immediately release the people who had been illegally detained in the Vedeno and Nozhai-Yurt districts.
Administration head of the Tsotsin-Yurt village in the Kurchaloyevski district Mogi Gikayev was shot dead by unknown perpetrators.
Wednesday, August 21
In connection with the August 19 crash of Russian military transport helicopter Mi-26 near Khankala, the Unified Federal Forces in the North Caucasus created a new post of deputy commander for transport, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said.
Thursday, August 22
A Day of Mourning in Russia declared by Russian President Vladimir Putin in connection with the crash of Russian military transport helicopter Mi-26 near Khankala on August 19.
Russian media announced that former Vice-Premier of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Turpal-Ali Atgeriyev died in a prison in Yekaterinburg, where we was serving his 15-year sentence for an involvement in an attack on a hospital in the Dagestani town of Kizlyar in 1996. While Russian authorities claimed that Atgeriyev died of leukaemia, Chechen sources claimed that he was killed.
Friday, August 23
Georgia accused Russia that Russian military aircraft crossed the Russian-Georgian border and bombed the Pankisi gorge, killing three people. While Russia categorically denied any involvement, OSCE Mission to Georgia confirmed violation of the Georgian air space.
Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said that all Chechen males, who came to the Pankisi gorge after the war in Chechnya started in 1999, must leave Georgia now so that nobody could portray Georgia as a country which gives shelter to terrorists or other criminals.
Russian MP Viktor Cherepkov raised a request for information from the Interior Minister and Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation on the case of Lechi Saligov, his assistant and editor-in-chief of Chechen newspaper "Spravedlivost", at the train station in Dedovsk, southwest of Moscow, on August 19.
Saturday, August 24
The Press Secretary of the White House wrote in a press release that the United States is deeply concerned about credible reports that Russian military aircraft indiscriminately bombed villages in northern Georgia on August 23. The White House spokesman wrote that the United States strongly supports Georgia's independence and territorial integrity and calls again urgently for a political settlement to the conflict in Chechnya.
Sunday, August 25
The Georgian Interior Ministry forces launched an "anti-criminal" operation in the Pankisi gorge whose aim according to Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze is to flush out of the gorge "criminals and terrorists if there are any".
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