On June 4 in Prague, Russian left-wing activists from the three Baltic states led the founding conference of the "Russian Party of the European Union." Main initiators of the party are: Tatyana Zhdanoka from Latvia, Georgii Bystrov from Estonia, and Sergey Dmitriev from Lithuania. The... MORE

Russian soldiers continue to die in Chechnya, as the unpopular conflict shows no sign of changing from its dirty and unpredictable nature. Separate recent incidents in Grozny, causing injuries to a platoon commander and conscript soldier from the interior troops, and in the Chechen village... MORE

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in a rare news conference broadcast by Afghanistan Television from his Golkhana Palace in Kabul on June 3, defended the steps he has taken so far to ensure that the September national elections are fair and free. Karzai also used the... MORE

A pair of bombings over the last several days-one targeted at people, the other at infrastructure-would seem to highlight the ongoing terrorist threat that Russia is facing. Yet investigators are reportedly leaning toward the theory that the blasts were the result of criminal-commercial disputes rather... MORE

This week Russian President Vladimir Putin has a busy diplomatic schedule. After attending the D-Day ceremonies on June 6, the first Russian president so honored, Putin flew to Mexico, in the first-ever visit to that country by a Russian head of state. He will then... MORE

Meeting in Sochi on June 4, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Tajik President Imomali Rahmonov announced a set of decisions that would, if implemented, consolidate Russia's military presence in Tajikistan. No final agreements were signed, but details eventually will be formalized based on these decisions.... MORE

Last week's demonstration of force by the Georgian central government on the administrative border with the breakaway region of South Ossetia sparked a vigorous debate among Russia's policy-makers, media and the analytic community. At the heart of the ongoing political discussion is the issue of... MORE

On June 1, Ukrainian Parliament Deputy Speaker Oleksandr Zinchenko complained of collusion between "law enforcement structures and the criminal world" in the April 18 Mukachevo mayoral elections (www.rada.kiev.ua, June 1). Zinchenko specifically targeted "skinheads," who had been reportedly organized as paramilitary groups by the presidential... MORE

Several events this week, seemingly unrelated, neatly illustrate the gradual closing of horizons in Russian democracy. The most dramatic and visible of the three was the June 2 firing of Leonid Parfenov, the charismatic host of NTV's weekly "Namedni" talk show. Technically, he was removed... MORE

In his recent state of the nation address, Russia's President Vladimir Putin was excruciatingly specific about his administration's economic policies. He was much less specific, however, in addressing the issue of the Kremlin's foreign policy. True, Putin did repeat a worn-out mantra about the strategic... MORE