Free Republic

REBELS seized an Interior Ministry building and attacked police posts in the Russian autonomous southern republic of Ingushetia, bordering Chechnya, in raids early yesterday. Abukar Kostoyev, the Interior Minister, was among 57 people killed in the raids mounted by a small army of 200 rebels. Up to 47 of the victims were law enforcement officials, authorities said. Two rebels were reported to have been killed. A gun battle raged for four hours in Nazran, Ingushetia’s largest city, before Russian forces dislodged the rebels. It was the biggest rebel operation in Ingushetia, a largely Muslim region with close ethnic links to...

A leaked Russian government report has accused its own soldiers of murdering more than 1,000 Chechen civilians last year in an apparent admission that discipline has broken down among its troops. The report discloses the existence of 49 mass graves dating back to 1999, containing some 3,000 bodies. Last year, 1,132 civilians were believed to have been killed by Russian soldiers, renowned for their wanton behaviour and heavy drinking in Chechnya. The chilling statistics were reported yesterday by the New York-based Human Rights Watch organisation and the French newspaper Le Monde, which have seen the document. Sergei Fridinsky, Russia's deputy...

Film star Vanessa Redgrave stepped in to help in the release of fellow actor Ahmed Zakayev, a Chechen rebel envoy accused of mass murder, who is seeking political asylum in the UK. It is not the first time the actress has spoken out publicly on causes she supports. BBC News Online takes a look at the political episodes that have featured in her life. Vanessa Redgrave, born in 1937, is a fully-fledged member of an acting dynasty. She is the daughter of actors Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, sister of Corin and Lynn Redgrave, and mother of Natasha and...

President George W. Bush will on Friday urge Russia to pursue a political solution in Chechnya, when he meets President Vladimir Putin on the outskirts of St. Petersburg. Although US diplomats see little near-term prospect of a negotiated settlement and the White House is keen to show its support for Mr Putin's tough approach to dealing with the Chechen terrorists, Mr Bush is expected to press the case for a political dialogue. Condoleezza Rice, Mr Bush's national security adviser, said on Thursday: "He will encourage the Russians to work toward a political solution with the Chechen people, because there are...