–LITTLE INDEPENDENCE FOR NEW COMMISSION

Like so many judicial and quasi-judicial bodies in today’s Russia, the Kadyrov administration’s new commission to investigate the Chechen conflicts of the last decade will know in advance what conclusions are expected of it. Izvestia correspondent Ilya Maksakov reported on October 22 that Taus Dzhabrailov, Chechnya’s minister for nationalities, had told him that “This commission is a serious business… names will be named….An assessment must definitely be made. Kadyrov has stated that the Chechen most guilty…is Ruslan Khasbulatov.”

–ZAKAEV CASE WINDING DOWN