New York-based Human Rights Watch this week called upon Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to grant access to Chechnya in general, and to the village of Alkhan-Yurt in particular, to independent investigators from international bodies and nongovernmental groups. At the moment, Russian authorities deny most international monitors and media representatives such access. Allegations of looting and extrajudicial killings by Russian troops - such as those surrounding the first two weeks of December in Alkhan-Yurt, where apparently 41 civilians were summarily executed - are brought by human rights groups and journalists largely on the basis of the testimony of fleeing refugees. On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch released a partial list of persons believed to have been killed by Russian forces in Alkhan-Yurt. The group said it had more information on more civilian victims, but would not release further details until its research was complete.