Chechnya's Independent Streak Is Growing

For weeks, rumors have swirled that Chechen authorities have been detaining, torturing and killing homosexual men in the Russian republic. Foreign governments have called on the Kremlin to investigate the reports, but Moscow has been steadfast in its dismissal of them. If they prove accurate, though, the extent of the actions would serve as yet another example of how the autonomous region and its longtime president, Ramzan Kadyrov, continue to operate outside Moscow's parameters -- setting his presidency on a collision course with the Kremlin....