On the diplomatic front, meanwhile, two weeks of high-level talks between and among Russian, European and American leaders served more than anything else over the past fortnight to highlight anew deep differences over key arms control issues. The various talks, which included long-anticipated summit meetings... MORE

....No observer over the past fortnight could accuse Vladimir Putin of vacillation. If anything, the Russian president was hyperactive. What observers disagreed about, however, was precisely where he was taking the country so quickly. But even this did not require finely tuned skills of observation.... MORE

?But if Putin was proactive in cutting the regional barons down to size, he was less so when it came to his promise to end the privileges and access to state power of the so-called "oligarchs." Indeed, while pro-Kremlin politicians and media, along with some... MORE

As is the case with domestic policy, commentators both inside and outside of Russia have suggested that the accession of the younger and more energetic Putin to the Russian presidency has resulted in a corresponding reinvigoration of the country's diplomacy. That new assertiveness appeared to... MORE

Russian diplomatic assertiveness was also manifested in an unseemly attack launched May 22 by Kremlin spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky on the Council of Europe and the leader of its parliamentary assembly (PACE), Lord Russell-Johnston. Yastrzhembsky accused the PACE lawmaker of holding secret negotiations with Chechen President... MORE

The fortnight was highlighted by the inauguration of Vladimir Putin as Russian president and the 55th anniversary of Victory Day, commemorating the 1945 Nazi capitulation to Soviet forces. The thread which ran through both events was the Kremlin's clear attempt to use them to forward... MORE

?Meanwhile, there were indications that the Kremlin's "consolidation" plans extend beyond atmospherics and symbolism. The newspaper Kommersant published what it said was a Kremlin scheme to create a new "political department" that would "really control the political and social processes in the Russian Federation, and... MORE

On the diplomatic front, a fortnight which began with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov's high-profile visit to the United States also included talks between top Russian officials and leaders from two of Russia's leading Asian partners--Japan and India. The three sets of meetings, which came... MORE

Although Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov endured (and rebuffed) more criticism from Washington about Moscow's war in Chechnya, the Russian diplomat's April 24-28 trip to the United States appeared to be dominated instead by discussion of key strategic arms control issues. The talks produced no... MORE

Informal talks between Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori in St. Petersburg on April 29 were equally inconclusive. Irreconcilable differences over the longstanding Kuril Islands territorial dispute has precluded the two countries from meeting a year 2000 deadline to conclude a peace treaty formally... MORE