In response to the outrage the Estemirova murder triggered abroad, Kadyrov, seemingly with utter conviction, announced that the "terrible crime" would be swiftly investigated and said he would personally see to it that that happened. And then he added: "As determined by the centuries-old traditions and the mentality of the Chechen people, we will also search for the criminals using other, traditional methods -- methods that sometimes prove to be very effective."

Traditional methods? The words sound like they came from a mafia boss, not a president. (...)

The Russians are keeping a close eye on Kadyrov. The Chechen president's bodyguards are elite fighters from Russia's FSB intelligence service. They protect him -- but they also report anything out of the ordinary to their superiors in Moscow.

The bodyguards recently noted that Kadyrov was becoming increasingly audacious, especially in his quest for new sources of income. "Kadyrov is a toad raised by Putin," says an FSB general. "Putin could easily choke on him."

Throwing his backing behind Mr Khodorkovsky's suit in the European Court of Human Rights, Mr Kasyanov said he had laid out in an affidavit filed to the court in Strasbourg last week Mr Putin's explanation in July 2003 for the rising state pressure on Mr Khodorkovsky and his Yukos oil company.

"He told me Khodorkovsky...was financing the Communist party without his agreement," Mr Kasyanov told the FT.

Mr Kasyanov said he had pressed Mr Putin for an explanation many times about the July 2003 arrest of Platon Lebedev, Mr Khodorkovsky's closest associate, and about mounting state pressure on Mr Khodorkovsky as prosecutors began to investigate tax fraud claims.

Mr Putin had refused to answer, he said, but at one point in July 2003 in a private meeting inside Mr Putin's office in the Kremlin Palace, the president told him that Mr Khodorkovsky had crossed a line by financing the communists without his permission even as he was financing the liberal Yabloko and Union of Right Forces parties in line with Kremlin orders. "He did not say any more." (...)

Mr Kasyanov's statement could add weight to Mr Khodorkovsky's appeal against the Russian government in the European Court of Human Rights claiming that his arrest in 2003 was politically motivated.

The exclusively domestic content of Monday's speech underlines the new, less-promising political reality Georgia faces after Russian forces defeated its army last summer, allowing two breakaway Georgian republics to declare their independence.

Mr. Saakashvili said Mr. Putin wanted to replace him, referring to a comment Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin made to French President Nicolas Sarkozy after the war.

"The biggest response I can have is to organize a smooth transition of power not controlled by the Russians," the president said. "It would tell the neighbors -- the people and not just the leaders -- that Putin is no longer the main street bully in the neighborhood."

But many opposition leaders say Mr. Saakashvili is part of the problem, not the solution. They say they will press Vice President Biden to link U.S. financial aid to Mr. Saakashvili's behavior in order to moderate it.

Some also insist that only a new president and administration will have the legitimacy to kick-start relations with Russia, which currently are nonexistent. Russia was Georgia's biggest trading partner before relations collapsed. They want Mr. Saakashvili to call a new election to renew his mandate.

"He hasn't done what any democratic leader should do after losing 20% of his country's territory [in a war]," says another opposition leader Salome Zourabachvili. "He needs to resign."

A comprehensive peace in the northern Caucasus would require long-term policies to win over the non-Russian peoples through political and social inclusion and economic development, and stabilise the whole region.

This would take years. But one move Mr Medvedev could make now would be to show he really does intend to apply the rule of law in the northern Caucasus by bringing to justice Ms Estemirova's killers. That would mean pursuing not only those who pulled the trigger but those who ordered the execution. Memorial, the human rights group with which Ms Estemirova was working, has blamed Mr Kadyrov. He denies the charge. Mr Medvedev could show he is serious by appointing a prosecutor to investigate fully Memorial's claim.

Ms Estemirova's colleagues fear there is not the slightest chance this will happen because Mr Medvedev has already dismissed claims of Mr Kadyrov's responsibility. The president has an opportunity to prove them wrong - and prove when he says he wants justice, he means what he says. Chechnya would be a difficult place to begin, given that the chain of command in Chechnya leads to Moscow and that Mr Putin has personally played a big role in its recent bloody history. But the gravity of the Chechnya-linked cases means they cannot be ignored if there is to be justice in Russia.