At the same time, the fiasco involving St. Petersburg's impending gubernatorial elections was not encouraging. It suggested that the president-elect's approach to politics was based on a hyper-pragmatism bordering on amorality. Back in February, Putin, then acting head of state, had joined Anatoly Chubais and... MORE

?After some seven years of inaction, Russia's parliament at long last appeared ready at the close of this past fortnight to move forward on ratification of the 1993 START II strategic arms reduction treaty. The lower house of parliament--the State Duma--was scheduled to hold its... MORE

This focus on Europe has been reflected particularly strongly in relations between Russia and Britain, and in the apparently growing personal friendship between Putin and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. London had made clear its own determination to build strong ties with the new Putin... MORE

But if the British were eager to blithely sweep the Chechen war under the table, other leading European governments and organizations appeared a little more reluctant to let Moscow off the hook so easily. Indeed, the past fortnight was a stormy one for Russia and... MORE

On March 29, Russia's Foreign Affairs Ministry notified Georgia that the Russian side is prepared immediately to hold negotiations on two sets of military issues: implementation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) summit's resolutions regarding Russian forces in Georgia and, coupled with that,... MORE

On April 5 the CIS Joint Air Defense System held a command-and-staff exercise under the overall supervision of General Anatoly Kornukov, commander in chief of Russia's Air Forces. From a Moscow headquarters, Lieutenant-General Yurii Bondarev directed the exercise in his dual capacity as Russian Air... MORE

The military exercise "Southern Shield of the Commonwealth-2000" entered its active phase on March 28 in Tajikistan. Armor, motor-rifle, paratroop, border troops and air defense units as well as general staff groups of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan participate in the joint exercise on Tajik... MORE

With the onset of spring weather, the governments in Central Asia--except that of Turkmenistan--fear a repetition of the 1999 Islamic insurgency which targeted Kyrgyzstan as an initial objective, with Uzbekistan as the real goal. Uzbek army and internal security troops held a combined exercise from... MORE

Vladimir Putin's first-round victory in the March 26 presidential election did not come as a big surprise. Indeed, the biggest surprise may have been the fact that he managed to win only 52 percent of the vote, given that, as acting head of state, he... MORE

Putin's March 26 presidential election victory elicited the standard outpouring of congratulations from leaders around the world. Accenting the positive, international observers suggested that the younger and more energetic Putin might make a more reliable partner on the international stage than had his sickly and... MORE