Smiling former rebel is Putin's man in Chechnya
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GUDERMES, Russia  - He bounded into the marble-floored office, grinning like a TV game show host primed to crack his opening joke.
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MOSCOW  - As Russia grapples with terrorism and instability in Chechnya, a powerful ruler-in-waiting is forcing President Vladimir Putin's hand: the 28-year-old son of a slain Chechen president who commands a feared militia and an oil-fuelled business empire.
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MOSCOW -- President Vladimir V. Putin depicts rebels in Chechnya as part of the international terrorist threat spearheaded by Al Qaeda. But analysts say the Chechen insurgency remains largely a nationalist movement aimed at winning independence from Russia.
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Young, energetic and friendly to the West, Mikhail Saakashvili became a symbol of democratic reform in the former Soviet Union in 2003 for leading street rallies that ousted a graying veteran of the Communist era and catapulted him into power.
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Amid high concern over rebel attacks, voters in Russia&#39;s war-torn republic of Chechnya began on Sunday to elect a successor to their former slain president.
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MAXINE McKEW: In Russia this festive season, there appears to be a sign of peace and goodwill from hard-line leader Vladimir Putin.
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President Vladimir Putin's rise was powered largely by a pledge to take down Chechen separatists. Yet the rebels are still killing Russian soldiers and appear increasingly bold in spilling civilian blood &#151; blamed for three dramatic attacks in little over a week.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to the breakaway republic of Chechnya to honor its slain pro-Russian leader Akhmad Kadyrov, hours after rebel attacks left several dead in Grozny, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.
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Chechnya's pro-Kremlin leader was sworn in as president of the turbulent Russian region Tuesday and acknowledged immediately he was a prime target for assassination by separatists.
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It was five years ago Monday when President Bush peered into Vladimir Putin&#039;s eyes for the first time and got &quot;a sense of his soul,&quot; pronouncing the Russian president &quot;straightforward and trustworthy.&quot;
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The man accused of plotting the terror attacks in Russia was once capable of restraint.
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After Beslan, the Kremlin promised a massive manhunt to track down Shamil Basayev. But Chechnya's terrorist in chief still moves with ease in his home district of Vedeno. A profile of the man behind Russia's 9/11
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GROZNY, Russia -- Chechnya's new Kremlin-backed president was sworn in yesterday, taking the helm of this wartorn Russian region under heavy guard nearly five months after his predecessor was assassinated and nearly a month after a wave of terrorist attacks blamed on Chechen rebels.
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Akhmed Zakayev, a London-based Chechen separatist and fierce critic of Moscow, says he will not be intimidated.
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A Kremlin-backed candidate appeared victorious Sunday in Chechnya&#39;s presidential election, which was marred by a blast at a polling station and mounting evidence that the recent crashes
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Nearly five months after his predecessor was assassinated, Maj. Gen. Alu Alkhanov was sworn in Tuesday as Chechnya's president in a heavily guarded ceremony seen as another step in the Kremlin's strategy to undermine rebels in this war-ravaged region.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a surprise visit to wartorn Chechnya ahead of presidential elections next week. He laid a wreath at the grave of the province&#39;s recently assassinated Russian-backed leader.