ISLAMABAD — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday, October 2, named Lt General Ashfaq Kiyani, Director General of the country’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), to be his successor as army chief.

The scene at the entrance to Ingushetia’s second-largest town Karabulak is menacing. The traffic checkpoint has been reinforced and is now manned by federal troops in armoured vehicles.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that suggestions he could head a future government as a prime minister were “quite realistic”.