President Eduard Shevardnadze has defined Georgia's policy as one of "knocking at NATO's door" with a view to applying by 2005 for membership. Russia's current political and military pressures on Georgia aim to derail the country's pro-Western policies, including its military and security cooperation with... MORE

RUSSIAN POLITICS: PRIME MINISTERS EVERYWHERE Most of the political news in Russia this past fortnight involved the activities of former prime ministers--hardly a surprise, given the degree to which they've been proliferating. The second-most-recent ex-premier, Yevgeny Primakov, finally took a step back onto the political... MORE

The International Monetary Fund's decision to release US$4.5 billion to Russia, held up since the August 1998 financial collapse, was the fortnight's biggest non-surprise. Observers had long speculated that the fund, under criticism for not anticipating or even playing a role in the financial meltdowns... MORE

Boris Yeltsin has gone on his annual summer vacation. But the head of state's time-out has done little to calm the increasingly turbulent waters of Russian politics as the start of election season approaches. Indeed, although the campaign season officially gets underway in the autumn,... MORE

With temperatures reaching 35 degrees Celsius, Moscow is well into the summer doldrums, which usually means a drop-off in tensions, scandals, rumors--in other words, the stuff of Russian politics. As the city sweltered, the State Duma finally went on recess, but not before giving the... MORE

SPECULATING ON RUSSIA'S POLITICAL FUTURE In Russia, the fortnight began amid frenzied speculation over President Boris Yeltsin's rumored plans either to remain in power after the June 2000 presidential vote or to find a successor who could guarantee a "continuity of power"--that is, the current... MORE

RUSSIA'S NEW GOVERNMENT: MORE KREMLIN SHENANIGANS The dust has hardly settled from either the months-long battle to oust former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov or the State Duma's attempt to impeach President Boris Yeltsin. Yet the victors in that first battle--the oligarchs who had been in... MORE

RUSSIA GETS A NEW PRIME MINISTER President Boris Yeltsin's dismissal of Yevgeny Primakov on May 12 was hardly a bolt out of the blue. For weeks--even months--Russia's media had been predicting that the former spymaster would be removed as cabinet head. Some Kremlin sources had... MORE

FROM GUAM TO GUUAM: A GROWING CENTRIFUGAL FORCE IN THE CIS "GUAM," the four-country group of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova, has welcomed a fifth member country--Uzbekistan--thereby extending into Asia. The enlargement should reinforce the capacity of this group--now "GUUAM"--to promote the member countries' common... MORE

RUSSIA: POLITICS AS USUAL The fortnight in Russian politics was, as usual, enough to make the spectator seasick. It began with President Boris Yeltsin mounting one of his time-honored comebacks against his enemies, but ended with the once-loyal leaders of Russia's regions turning the tables... MORE