UN rights panel: threats, killing of Russian journalists, rights activists alarming

UN panel: killing of Russian journalists alarming

Reports: Criminal case opened against prominent Russian rights activist

Reports: Case opened against Russian activist

Prominent opposition activist shot and killed in southern Russia

Opposition activist killed in southern Russia

EU awards Sakharov rights prize to Russians beleagured rights activists

MOSCOW — The European Union’s parliament on Thursday awarded its annual Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought to three prominent Russian rights activists, in recognition of the difficult conditions they face in defending human rights in Russia today.

Chechnya’s Kremlin-backed leader wins defamation lawsuit against rights activist

MOSCOW — Chechnya’s Kremlin-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov on Tuesday won a defamation lawsuit against a rights activist who blamed him for the killing of a colleague whose murder sparked international outrage.

Chechen security forces kill 8 militants in southern mountains in 2-hour gunbattle

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia — Chechen forces engaged in a two-hour gunbattle with militants Friday, leaving eight insurgents dead in the violence-wracked Russian province, authorities said.

A look at the republics in Russia’s violence-wracked North Caucasus

The mountainous regions of southernmost Russia, known as the North Caucasus, have a combined population of almost 7 million and have long been beset by violence, stoked by poverty, corruption, Islamic extremism, ethnic tensions, feuding criminal gangs and the two separatist wars that ravaged Chechnya since 1994. Here’s a look at the most troubled republics:

Suicide bombings, kidnappings, poverty _ Russia’s North Caucasus slips again toward war

NAZRAN, Russia — Melted rubber sandals float in the bus-sized crater outside what’s left of the Nazran city police department.

Russian leader defends himself against Chechen president’s defamation lawsuit

MOSCOW — A Russian human rights activist on trial over a defamation claim filed by Chechnya’s strongman president said Friday he stands by his statements blaming the Kremlin-backed provincial leader for a fellow activist’s slaying in July.

Kremlin-backed Chechen leader claims US, British intelligence services back rebels

MOSCOW — The controversial Kremlin-backed president of Chechnya claims that militants in the violence-plagued Russian province are backed by U.S. and British intelligence agencies.

Female suicide bomber in Chechnya wounds 6, including 2 police, in region’s latest violence

GROZNY, Russia — A suicide bomber wounded six people in the capital of Chechnya on Wednesday, officials said — the latest in a series of attacks undermining Kremlin claims that stability is returning to the southern Russian region.

Suicide bomber in Chechnya wounds 6 police officers, reports say attacker a woman

GROZNY, Russia — A suicide bomber wounded six police officers in the capital of the Russian republic Chechnya on Wednesday, officials said.

US-based media watchdog slams Russia’s ’spectacular’ failure to investigate journalist murders

MOSCOW — A U.S.-based media watchdog on Tuesday blamed Russian authorities for a “devastating record of injustice” in failing to solve the murders of 16 journalists killed since 2000.

Suicide bombings, slayings and clashes kill 7 in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus region

GROZNY, Russia — Militant attacks and gunbattles across Russia’s violence-plagued North Caucasus left seven people dead Saturday, including the second suicide bomber to strike in less than 24 hours, law enforcement and emergency officials said.

Officials: 7 killed in attacks, battles in Russia’s North Caucasus, suicide bombing injures 3

GROZNY, Russia — Russian authorities say seven people have been killed in attacks and gunbattles in the North Caucasus region, most of them alleged militants.

Emergency officials: Suicide bomb blast in Chechnya injures 3 police

GROZNY, Russia — An emergency official says a suicide bomber has wounded three police officers in the capital of Russia’s war-scarred Chechnya province.

European human rights envoy urges Russia to prosecute killers of NGO in Chechnya

MOSCOW — The Council of Europe’s commissioner on human rights says Russia must prosecute the killers of a human rights activist in Chechnya this year, if it is to break a cycle of violence in the region.

Russians mark 10 years since string of Moscow apartment bombings that killed 300

MOSCOW — Hundreds of Russians, clutching carnations for the dead, marked 10 years on Tuesday since a string of bombing attacks destroyed several suburban apartment blocks and killed nearly 300 people across the country.

Official: Organizer of attempt on regional leader among 5 rebels shot dead in Russian south

NAZRAN, Russia — Authorities in Russia’s North Caucasus region have shot dead five insurgents — one of whom was wanted for organizing a failed assassination attempt on Ingushetia’s leader, and two of whom may have been planning a terrorist act in Moscow, officials said Saturday.

Official: Blast kills 3 police, wounds 2 in Russia’s troubled Ingushetia province

NAZRAN, Russia — A roadside bomb blast ripped through a police car in Russia’s violence-plagued southern Ingushetia province on Friday, killing three officers and wounding two others, authorities said.

Russian Supreme Court orders further probe into killing of reporter Anna Politkovskaya

MOSCOW — Russia’s Supreme Court changed the rules Thursday for the investigation into Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya’s killing, giving her family a glimmer of hope for justice and testing President Dmitry Medvedev’s commitment to judicial reform.

Russian Supreme Court orders further investigation in killing of investigative reporter

MOSCOW — Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday ordered further investigation into the killing of an investigative journalist who was gunned down in an elevator after harshly criticizing Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin and human rights abuses in Russia’s region of Chechnya.

Russian rights activist visits slain colleague’s Chechnya grave, fears justice won’t be done

KOSHKELDY, Russia — A leading Russian human rights activist paid an emotional visit Sunday to the cemetery where her slain colleague Natalya Estemirova is buried, weeping at her grave and predicting her killers will never be never be brought to justice.