Summary of the main news related to the conflict in Chechnya. Compiled by Prague Watchdog.
Monday, July 22
Chechen news agency Chechenpress reported that on June 27 - July 4 the State Defence Committee of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria held its meeting in the Vedeno district. After the meeting ended, Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov and top field commander Shamil Basayev told a joint news conference that the Chechen resistance movement would replace the current guerilla warfare by active and organised military operations for which the Military Committee led by Basayev had been formed.
The Russian military said that a total of 4,249 servicemen of the United Military Group in the North Caucasus have died and 12,285 have been injured since August 7 to date, while some experts in the Chechen conflict say the figures are false and alternative estimates put the real figures roughly at a treble.
Unknown persons fired from sub-machine guns with a silencer at representatives of the OSCE Assistance Group to Chechnya. The incident, during which no one was injured, took place in the Staropromyslovski district of Grozny when OSCE representatives were visiting the people who turned to the Assistance Group with a complaint, Chechnya Department of the Federal Security Service (FSB) announced (on July 24).
Tuesday, July 23
Several masked persons with sub-machine guns reportedly kidnapped the head of relief aid agency "Druzhba", 56-year-old resident of St Petersburg Nina Davidovich, near the village of Goragorsk, taking her out of the car in which she was returning together with three other staff of Druzhba from Grozny to Ingushetia.
Wednesday, July 24
Over 12,000 Chechens are employed in the interior forces (i.e. police) of the Chechen Republic, said Russian Deputy Interior Minister, Colonel General Alexandr Chekalin. There are 20 permanent district police departments in Chechnya and in each of them an operating group of the Russian Interior Ministry coordinates the operations of local policemen, trains them and liaisons with the federal centre, Chekalin added.
Thursday, July 25
Since the beginning of the year some 40 criminal case proceedings have been launched against members of the Chechen police who committed an offence or crime, Moscow-appointed Prosecutor of the Chechen Republic Nikolai Kostyuchenko said.
Friday, July 26
No major events.
Saturday, July 27
Servicemen of the Federal Border Service (FPS) of the Russian Federation based in the Chechen district of Itum-Kale clashed with several dozen Chechen fighters in the Khangakhoi mountain pass. Several FPS servicemen were killed during the fight but they managed to encircle the fighters, also thanks to the assistance of the federal air force, FPS's press department said (on July 28). FPS claimed that the fighters were trying to break from the Kerigo gorge in Georgia to Chechnya, while Georgian border guards said they did not come from Georgia. Chechen sources said that the fighters came from Chechnya, attacked FPS servicemen in line with their plan, after several attempts broke through the encirclement and then returned to Chechnya.
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