Saratov's chief prosecutor, Anatoly Bondar, announced on May 14 that criminal proceedings have been instituted against the region's governor, Dmitry Ayatskov, for abuse of power connected to the alleged misuse of 70 million rubles (US $2.4 million) in budgetary funds. Accusations against Ayatskov, who was... MORE

Political renewal in Georgia, and the appealing international image of its leadership, have created the right context for a Western-assisted Georgian effort to commit the Kremlin to an early withdrawal of Russian forces from the country. Under the adapted Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe... MORE

Potentially one of the richest of the former Soviet republics, with natural gas estimated as high as 3.7 trillion yards, Turkmenistan has been unable to exploit its energy reserves because of its geographical isolation and governmental system. Thirteen years after the implosion of the USSR,... MORE

Having scheduled an early presidential election in Chechnya for September 5, the Kremlin appears to have opted for the continuation of its existing Chechenization policy in the wake of the assassination on May 9 of the pro-Moscow Chechen leader Akhmad Kadyrov. As many Russian policy... MORE

This week world oil prices hit their highest level since 1990 - more than US$40 a barrel for Brent crude, and US$35.70 a barrel for Russia's Urals blend. This is a result of continuing strong demand due to China's ongoing boom and the US economic... MORE

Yevgeny Loginov, director of international projects for Interenergoservis, said yesterday (May 13) that the company would evacuate all 340 of its employees working in Iraq if the fate of two of its employees recently kidnapped there is not determined in the immediate future (RIA Novosti,... MORE

On May 12 the U.S. Congress held a hearing entitled "The Future of Ukraine and the Interests of the United States" dealing with Ukraine's upcoming presidential election and the state of its democratization. In addition to former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine and Deputy Assistant Secretary... MORE

On May 12, acting Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov took part in negotiations with Uzbek Minister of Defense Kadyr Gulomov regarding the military-technical cooperation taking place between their two countries. The defense ministers also discussed regional security issues on which Uzbekistan and Russia cooperate on... MORE

As the international community finds itself in a state of flux with the unprecedented global war on terror and the deepening crisis in Iraq, leading Moscow strategists are trying to define Russia's relations with the West, and in particular with the United States. At two... MORE

American and Japanese reports state that Russia is expected to join the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) against proliferation at sea and in the air. Russia's Foreign and Defense Ministries have also expressed a positive attitude toward this initiative. This move would, among other things, strike... MORE