Russia's budget battles continued over the last two weeks, but the high-stakes contest over economic policy was in some regards overshadowed by an unseemly display of anti-Semitism in Russian public life. That unedifying development did little for Russia's regions, some of which continued to struggle... MORE

As October reached its end, Russian political life seemed much closer to a post-Yeltsin era than it had just two weeks earlier. The Russian president was back in the government sanitarium at Barvikha, just outside Moscow, where he had spent the last part of 1996... MORE

If that were not enough, Boris Yeltsin's health problems flared up again, with the Russian head of state truncating a swing through Central Asia after coming down with bronchitis. Several near-falls while in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, as well as clear signs of disorientation, led to a... MORE

Russia finally got a new government, but there was little optimism that its partial return to Soviet era policies could lift the country from its current economic crisis. Russia's assertiveness in the foreign policy realm, meanwhile, appeared set to continue unabated. Moscow clashed yet again... MORE

Russia got a prime minister after three weeks without a functioning government. On September 11, the State Duma approved President Yeltsin's nomination of Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov. At 68, the Soviet-era KGB spy-master had expressed no presidential ambitions and was not seen by Russia's presidential... MORE

Russia's prolonged and agonizing economic turmoil turned into a full-scale political crisis when, on August 31, the opposition-dominated State Duma voted down President Boris Yeltsin's nomination of Viktor Chernomyrdin as prime minister. Yeltsin immediately reconfirmed his support for Chernomyrdin's candidacy. If the Duma rejects his... MORE

CHECHNYA CASTS A LONG SHADOW Russia's tortured relations with Chechnya formed the backdrop against which the main events of the past fortnight were played out. On August 1, Prime Minister Sergei Kirienko marked his first hundred days in office by meeting with Aslan Maskhadov, the... MORE

Fears of budget collapse and a forced ruble devaluation were staved off on July 20, when the IMF formally approved a new loan to Russia of US$11.2 billion. The loan formed part of a US$22.6 billion rescue package to bolster Russia's depleted gold and hard... MORE

Russia's financial crisis deepened despite the government's increasingly desperate efforts to find a way out. Prime Minister Sergei Kirienko on July 1 presented the Duma with twenty-one legislative proposals constituting an "anti-crisis" program of austerity measures. The Duma gave its preliminary approval to twelve of... MORE

Russia sounded the alarm over its continuing financial woes and looked to the world community for aid in surmounting its economic crisis. That appeal came as various Russian political groups began positioning themselves for parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled in 1999 and 2000. In the... MORE