1.   Concern about immigration has plagued the republic since its early days.

2.   But he remains widely popular, and many credit him for ensuring peace in Kazakstan, while many other former Soviet republics have been plagued by conflict.

3.   However, it has not succeeded in stopping the lawlessness that has plagued the republic since its two-year war with Russia.

4.   Most former Soviet republics have been plagued by a rise in epidemics as state-run health systems crumble from a shortage of government funds.

5.   The former Soviet republic is plagued by frequent strikes and other protests by unpaid workers, even as the government struggles to get the economy in order.

6.   The republic is plagued by rampant crime and economic woes, and Maskhadov has acknowledged that his authority is in jeopardy.

7.   The small, Muslim-majority republic has been plagued by crime.

8.   The tiny southern republic has been plagued by kidnappings and other violence since the withdrawal of Kremlin troops, but Muslim leaders rarely have been targeted.

9.   Basayev spent much of his talk on promises that every Chechen wants to hear -- ending the crime and poverty which plague the republic following the war.