"On Monday, army commandos eliminated the last rebels trying to break out of the encircled area destroying 15 of them," said Colonel Igor Konashenkov, an aide to the commander of the North Caucasian military district.

On December 29, the Abkhazian side released ten Georgians abducted from the Gali district of breakaway Abkhazia a few days ago, in exchange for release of three Abkhazians.

We call your attention to the extracts from the statement Ruslan Mutsolgov handed in to Imran Ezhiev, head of the Ingush office of the Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship and Moscow Helsinki Group coordinator.

The ministry of defense regards the incident as the one throwing discredit upon the peacekeeping forces as it occurred in the area they are responsible for.

Activists of the Humanitarian Programs Center took the lead in conducting such an action in 1995. Both the number of its participants and the number of children getting New Year presents and congratulations has been increasing year after year.

Participants considered the Regulations on the Coordinating Center and a plan of work for the first six months of 2004. The Chairman of the Dagestani National Assembly, Mukhu Aliyev, presided at the sitting.

The surrendering militant said that Arab mercenaries had killed two other gunmen who wanted to surrender together with him, sources from the public relations centre of the Federal Security Service reported.

Yastrjembsky's statement that Russian special operations forces destroyed 17 Mojaheds (22 by another version) near Serzhen-Yurt and that one German and three Turkish citizens were among the people killed may turn to serious international embarrassing position for the Kremlin.

"After I was arrested by the Judge of the Moscow Circuit Court Martial I was subjected to torture and degrading treatment," reads the statement.

Almost 23,000 Chechen children have enjoyed their rest at health resorts in southern Russia in 2003. The Russian Government allocated 150 million rubles from the State Social Insurance Fund for the purpose.

Militia Lieutenant Colonel Khakiyev's car was fired by unknown people in the afternoon when he was on his business trip in the Sunzhensky district, Ingushetia.

Chechen police did not take any measures of force influence.

Chechen media will inform the public about the problems of landmines in the republic, according to the agreement made at the meeting between representatives of the Chechen press and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Grozny on December 24.

On December 23, police officer Aslan Magamayev was fired point-blank from the automatic by unknown people in camouflage uniform in the village of Gekhi, Chechnya's Urus-Martan district.

Last year 72 people died last year when two KamAZ trucks detonated near the administrative building. Over 200 people got injuries.

The destiny of the abducted is unknown yet. The Abkhazian security service is inquiring into circumstances of the incident, Sergey Shamba said.

Adjaria's refusal to take part in the election would be a catastrophe for Georgia and a "serious historic blemish" for the autonomous republic, in the opinion of Aslan Abashidze.

The commandant's office in a street corner in Grozny was bombed and shot by unidentified attackers at 10:53 p.m. on Sunday.

While opening the conference, Prosecutor of the Republic of Adygeya Mikhail Prikhlenko told that the main problem was the mass presence of Kurdish migrants in Adygeya.

Residents of South Osetia became very interested in the answer of Vladimir Putin on the question which he was asked by a spectator from Kabardino-Balkaria during a live translation.