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Victory Parade, Moscow, Red Square, June 24, 1945

The pictures from Kyrgyz capital Bishkek - the morning after "Democratic Revolution"

Schroeder and Putin forge Russian-German axis Gerhard Schroeder's friendliness to Russia causes increasing irritation, and not only among traditional opponents of German chancellor, but also among his nearest colleagues. In mid-September, German press wrote that the chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schroeder has accepted Vladimir Putin's invitation to visit Moscow in May of next year for participation in celebrations of the sixtieth anniversary of a victory over hitlerite Germany and by that ostensibly has once again demonstrated emerging unipolarity of the German foreign policy. The Schroeder's decision has caused criticism not only in the Christian Democrat opposition, but also among colleagues...

UPI's Moscow-based analyst Peter Lavelle interviews Dr. Andrew C. Kuchins, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, on Russia after Beslan. UPI: At a meeting Vladimir Putin granted to a group of Western analysts and journalists in the wake of the Beslan tragedy, Putin praised his American counterpart George Bush but criticized America's willingness to meet Chechen separatists - people the Kremlin calls terrorists. What do you think Putin's attitude is toward the United States at this point - particularly in regards to fighting international terrorism? Kuchins: Judging from his remarks to the Russian nation on Sept. 4, reports of his...

Our Disgrace By Robert Bruce Ware Published on September 07, 2004 One feels ashamed to be an English-speaker. More that 330 innocent people are dead. Most of them are children. Some were shot in the back as they fled. But the children were not yet buried before much of the media in the United States and Britain began their pointless and predictable ritual of second guessing, and then blaming, the Russian authorities. The same stale misconceptions and misinformation were once again rehearsed. All so easy, all so mindless. In October 2002, Chechen terrorists (not "militants", not "rebels", not "separatists") took...

The West sets shahids on Russia Shortly before the last acts of terrorism, Russia was warned that it would have troubles if Moscow will not hand over Caucasus to the western powers. We have already got used to that the western mass media and policies are sympathetic to the insurgents attacking Russia ostensibly struggling for independence of the Chechen Republic. There is nothing new that the European and American mass-media only casually mention innocent victims of attacks of terrorists and are interested only in telling about sufferings of shahids and their just revenge. Thus they actually paint themselves as instigators...

This list of American organizations which provide financial support to the Chechen terrorists was compiled by Russian intelligence agencies and published in the "Rossiya" newspaper. Muslim American Bar Association, the post address: 1212 New York Avenue, N.W., Washington D.C., ph.: (202 789-2262 and (202 789-2888. At the end of 1999 was engaged in fund raising for the help to the Chechen Republic; American Muslim Council, the post address: 1212 New York ave., N.W., suite 400, Washington DC 20005. Supports Chechen extremists, carries out constant monitoring a situation in the Chechen Republic, carries out political actions in the USA " in...

Indira Dzetskelova, mother of 12-years old Dzerase My daughter says that first of all insurgents have divided children into groups and between them put explosives. In a gym, they have hung up a bomb and wrapped it around flag of Ossetia. Near their group constantly there were four persons. First they were guarded by two women with shahid belts. Insurgents talked to children in Russian, did not beat them and did not shoot in a hall. Though on the very first day of capture the girl saw how they shot a man and have forced other men to pull the...

© AP / ITAR-TASS

Russia said on Tuesday it was "extremely concerned" by escalating violence in the Middle East and urged Palestinian leaders to stop extremists wrecking any political settlement. "The Palestinian leadership must take tough measures against extremist political organisations to prevent them from upsetting steps towards a political settlement," Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said. Russia is co-sponsor, along with the United States, of the collapsed Middle East peace process. Ivanov's comments, on the sidelines of an international security conference in the Romanian capital Bucharest, came as the foreign ministry in Moscow expressed grave concern over the dramatic turn of events in ...

Communists Face Loss of Power in Russia's Elections The success of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's Unity Party puts him on track to replace Yeltsin, but the pro-business, pro-West pol still faces several obstacles, including Chechnya -- and Yeltsin himself -- in a presidential bid After yesterday's State Duma elections, Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin towers over Russia's political terrain. He has an opportunity to set a post-election agenda for a new, more Kremlin-friendly parliament -- and he has established himself as the front-runner to succeed lame duck Boris Yeltsin in the presidential election set for June, 2000. "Without any doubt, ...

US contingent of KFOR troops in Kosovo lost another, the eighth soldier... 26-year old Sergeant of US Army was mortally wounded when his Hamvey vehicle hit a landmine near town of Kamenic... Earlier, four US servicemen were killed in traffic accidents, one died from electric shock and two from gunshot wounds which may have been a result of suicide.

Interview of Vladimir Putin, the Russian Prime Minister. Q. Recognising the self-determination of nations has been an important principle of international relations for decades. Why should Chechnya remain part of the Russian Federation when its people want to be independent? Putin: Indeed, the right of nations to self-determination is an important principle of international relations. But a no less important principle of these relations is the right of states to territorial integrity and unity. It cannot be said that the former principle is superior to the latter. There is not a single state in world history that would live ...

Australia estimates East Timor death toll at 500 to 1,000 CANBERRA, Dec 1 (AFP) - Australia estimates the death toll in the violent aftermath of East Timor's August 30 self-rule ballot at between 500 and 1,000, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Wednesday. Downer rejected claims that Indonesian forces and their militia allies massacred tens of thousands of people and had dumped thousands of bodies at sea, saying they would inevitably have washed ashore eventually. "This is an assessment that we would make and the UN would make," he told a National Press Club lunch here. "Believe me, if between 500 ...

Why we are fighting in Chechnya There is probably not a political leader in the world who has not taken an interest in the events unfolding in Northern Ireland in recent months. In Moscow we were hoping that Senator Mitchell's efforts would produce a permanent resolution to a conflict which has plagued Britain and Ireland for the past 30 years. The people of Northern Ireland now appear to have a way forward. The Russian people, myself included, hope that their political leaders will turn the dream of a lasting peace into reality. There are those who would say, given ...

By VLADIMIR PUTIN, Russian Prime Minister -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "When President Clinton and I met in Oslo earlier this month, we discussed the situation in Chechnya. Accounts of that conversation in the American media, understandably, emphasized the president's warnings about the impact of Russia's military operations. Because we value our relations with the United States and care about Americans' perception of us, I want to explain our actions in" clear terms. To do so, I ask you to put aside for a moment the dramatic news reports from the Caucasus and imagine something more placid: ordinary New Yorkers or Washingtonians, asleep ...

"SLEPTSOVSKAYA, Russia (CNN) -- Facing a choice between squalid conditions at refugee camps in Ingushetia and relentless Russian artillery and air attacks on their homeland, Chechen civilians wearily trudged in both directions across the snowbound border between the two republics on Thursday. " http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9911/11/chechnya.01/index.html ""We've seen alarming humanitarian conditions," said Norwegian diplomat Kim Traavik after leading a mission of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to Chechnya's neighbouring republic, Ingushetia, where 200,000 refugees are living in freezing conditions." http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_515000/515767.stm These reports imply that _all_ of the two hundred thousand Chechen refugees are suffering in miserable camps. ...

Here is my collection of news clippings about the scope of "humanitarian disaster" in Chechnya. October 8, 1999: "The flood of some 150,000 Chechen refugees overwhelming the neighboring Russian republic of Ingushetia. " http://cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9910/08/chechnya.west October 23, 1999: "More than 180,000 people have already left Chechnya, most of them moving west into Ingushetia." http://cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/9910/23/smn.12.html October 24, 1999: "More than 160,000 people have fled Chechnya so far, most of them to Ingushetia" http://cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9910/24/russia.chechnya.reut/ October 26, 1999: ""Out there" are nearly 200,000 Chechens -- 170,000 of them in impoverished Ingushetia." http://cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9910/26/chechnya.refugees.02/ October 28, 1999 "... most of the 190,000 refugees who fled ...

People fled Chechnya for long time, since 1991. In first three years, 130 thousand left the republic. First fled the local Jews, who had no illusions regarding their prospects under "independent" Dudaev's regime. They emigrated almost all, in organized way, within several weeks. With same ogranization, Armenians left too. Then, the Russians followed. After secession of Ingushetia from Chechen-Ingush Authonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1992, Chechnya had population of about 1 million. Of them, the Russian population comprised 336 thousand. Before start of war in September of 1999, the experts estimate that only about 30,000 Russians were still living ...