It's been less than a week since valiant Russian human rights groups Memorial won Europe's llustrious human rights award, the Sakharov Prize, but it seems that Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov is determined to pull the plug on any celebrations. Kadyrov won a civil libel suit against the organization's Chairman Oleg Orlov earlier this month, regarding the activist's public affirmation that the Chechen leader was responsible for the murder of fellow Memorial representative Natalya Estemirova in July.  Kadyrov has now opened a criminal libel suit against Orlov, which carries a prison sentence of up to three or four years. This from the AP: The case stems from Orlov's statement in July that Chechen President ...

Today's headlines speak of the bleak but sadly not unfamiliar news of another human rights activist being murdered in the North Caucasus.  On Sunday, businessman and rights defender Maksharip Aushev was killed when 60 rounds of bullets were sprayed into his car along a highway in the province of Kabardino-Balkaria.  Aushev is the third human rights activist to be murdered in the trouble spot in a little over three months, following the murder of Memorial's stalwart Natalya Estemirova in July and childrens' charity officer Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband in August. The Guardian adumbrates Aushev's trajectory into the sphere of human rights advocacy, prompted by the experience of his own son and nephew being kidnapped, followed by ...

TODAY: NATO head upbeat on relations with Russia; Medvedev looks to imams for help with Caucasus Islamic insurgents; suggests a TV channel.  Russia on the defensive regarding WW2; 70th anniversary of its start to prove a diplomatic minefield?  St Petersburg heritage status in jeopardy with Gazprom tower looming.The New York Times reports on how the period of relative tranquility in Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan has ended with a surge in violence.  Reuters relays Russian claims that an al-Qaeda agent has been killed in Dagestan.  The republic's recovering President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov has warned Medvedev that Islamic insurgency has 'permeated all facets of life in society'.   The Russian president has urged Muslim clerics to help ...

TODAY: Yushchenko hits back; Russia accuses Ukraine of participation in Georgia war.  Medvedev suggests media scaremongering regarding disaster.  Seeks the advice of Buddhists.  Putin visits Kadyrov; Estemirova commemorated. Two candidates for the title of Russia's Obama.Russia has reportedly claimed that Ukrainian troops and volunteers joined with Georgian soldiers in fighting against Russia during last year's five-day war.  Celebrating the 18th anniversary of Ukraine's independence from Soviet rule, embattled President Viktor Yushchenko deflected the criticisms from abroad, in particular 'foreign overlords'.  President Medvedev has been on a recruitment drive in the Buryatia region of Mongolia, where on a visit to a temple the President asked Buddhist monks to join the armed forces as spiritual advisers. ...

This one is fresh off the wire on Angela Merkel's upcoming meeting with Dmitry Medvedev.  Despite strong efforts, Merkel's past comments on human rights have not produced much.  Perhaps this summit, a new approach will be attempted.

From The New York Times:

For all her ability to speak Russian, or draw on her experience of growing up and working in Communist East Germany, Mrs. Merkel also has little to show for speaking out on human rights.That will not stop her from voicing concern about recent killings of activists in Chechnya, said a government spokesman. This week, the bodies of Zarema Sadulayeva, a human rights campaigner, and her husband were found in the trunk of a car in Chechnya. Last month, Natalya Estemirova, a human rights campaigner, was kidnapped and killed; even Mr. Medvedev expressed dismay. ...

TODAY: Shock reverberates around Chechyna NGO worker murder; Kadryov reacts with attack on Estemirova.  NATO-Russia relations warming up; new kind of space race? Medvedev pulls no punches on Ukraine leadership. 'Merchant of Death' won't be extradited. Art attack. 'We thought that after Natalya's [Estermirova]death there would at least be a lull', says the deputy director of Human Rights Watch in Russia on the murder of Save the Generation director Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband.  The organization's former director was also murdered in 2005, the Washington Post reports.  'Is a death squad roaming Grozny under official sanction or are these horrible but unrelated killings?' asks the Times.  'Why aren't Western governments doing more to ...

TODAY: Medvedev firm on realignment of Caucasus; pledges support for the breakaway territories; details of Cyxymu hacking case emerge.  Justice for Politkovskaya meets obstacles; Kadyrov shows little love for Estemirova; Putin celebrates ten years in power.  Helicopters, cars and cops. 'Last year's events have finally redrawn the political map of the Caucasus' said President Medvedev, awarding medals at a war in Georgia commemoration service.  Medvedev has promised to develop 'full-fledged relations with South Ossetia and Abkhazia, regardless of whether somebody likes it or not'.  According to the President, Georgia has not stopped threatening to regain its 'territorial integrity' by force.  He has pledged to continue to provide South Ossetia with social, economic and military ...

TODAY: Biden's comments on 'withering' Russia cause consternation; Clinton steps in to smooth over reset cracks.  Medvedev interview; 'bear' needs to appear more friendly.  Russia threatens sanctions on firms helping Georgia re-arm; acknowledges Black Sea violation.  In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Joe Biden has suggested that pragmatism led Russia to accept better relations with the US, unreservedly citing the country's numerous problems (including its 'withering economy') as reason for the thaw.  Russia has voiced its perplexity at the criticisms, and awaits 'clarification', with a foreign policy adviser asking, 'who is shaping the U.S. foreign policy, the president or respectable members of his team?'  Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has adopted a ...

There are some things that should be sacred.  A funeral, no matter who it is for, should not be disturbed like this.  Hasn't the Kremlin sent enough messages to their people that they should be afraid?  From the New York Times:

Police officers in Moscow broke up a memorial service for the human rights worker Natalya Estemirova on Thursday evening and detained the organizer of the event, according to Memorial, the organization where Ms. Estemirova worked. The service for Ms. Estemirova, who was abducted in the Chechen capital, Grozny, and shot to death last week, attracted about 200 people, exceeding the number allowed for the event, the police said. After the event, riot police officers pushed about 15 people into a bus. It was unclear on Friday whether they had been released.

From Reuters:

When all but 20 of the

...

TODAY: Russia says no to Georgia rearmament; Biden firm on support for Georgia, asserts that democracy and prosperity key to reintegration of rebel territories.  Incumbent president of Kyrgyzstan looks set to win; the opposition claims electoral fraud; Ukraine to expel Russia diplomat.  Anti-graft cases rake in money.  US Vice-President Joe Biden has adopted a more aggressive tone on Russia, stating that the Kremlin used a 'pretext' to invade Georgia, and has asserted that renewed relations with Russia 'have not...will not, and...cannot' imperil the relationship Georgia has with the US.  To see a video of Biden's standing ovation met address, see the BBC.  Biden has called upon Russia to honor last summer's ceasefire agreement, including ...