Free Republic

Investigators fear the shooting is part of a surge in inter-ethnic tensions between Chechens and the Ingush. Vladimir Putin is facing a potentially serious outbreak of inter-ethnic violence, after a former Chechen and Ingush politician was seriously wounded by a gunman at his home just outside Moscow. Sherip Alikhadzhiev, an aide to Russian State Duma Deputy Vladimir Shamanov, was rushed to hospital with two bullet wounds and is recovering in intensive care. Russia's Investigative Committee said the gunman fired at least four times at the victim’s house in the village of Lapino near Odintsovo, before fleeing the scene. Mr Alikhadzhiev...

Russia has claimed that its troops have killed two rebel commanders who organised the assassination of the pro-Moscow Chechen leader Akhmad Kadyrov in the separatist republic of Chechnya. Moscow did not make it clear how it knew the two Chechens were involved in the attack, which has complicated Russian efforts to end a war launched by President Vladimir Putin in October 1999 and has since degenerated into guerrilla warfare. "We have liquidated the two heads of a rebel group that organised the terrorist attack in the city of Grozny, in the Dinamo stadium, on May 9," said Ilya Shabalkin, a...