Latest Fortnight in Review Articles

AUTHORITARIAN MODERNIZATION

?Meanwhile, a group of veteran human rights campaigners, including two leading members of Liberal Russia, the movement which Berezovsky belongs to and funds, marked the anniversary of Stalin's death with an open letter calling on "civic forces" of all political persuasions to "unite for the... MORE

FACING OFF WITH WASHINGTON OVER NUKES, STEEL AND…CHICKENS

A contentious fortnight for Russian and American diplomats concluded on a more amicable note when U.S. President George W. Bush announced on March 13 that he believed the two countries were likely to finalize a binding nuclear arms reduction agreement by the time that he... MORE

WHERE WOULD “NATO AT 20” LEAVE UKRAINE

?Recent suggestions from major European chancelleries to include Russia in NATO's decisionmaking process were individual initiatives, poorly coordinated with one another, and requiring a collective allied effort at watering them down under the deadline of upcoming summits. Although individual, and apparently improvised in some cases,... MORE

NO END TO RUSSIA’S CHECHEN IMBROGLIO

Things were relatively quiet on Russia's domestic political front over the past fortnight. The operative word here is "relatively," given that the two-and-half-year-old conflict in Chechnya continued to grind on, with few visible signs of last year's shoots of optimism concerning a possible political solution.... MORE

KREMLIN KEEPS UP PRESSURE ON MEDIA

The other news that may have disturbed an otherwise calm two weeks for the Kremlin was the announcement by Aleksei Venediktov, chief editor of Ekho Moskvy, the private radio station created a decade ago by Vladimir Moskvy, that he was stepping down from his post... MORE

CHOPPY WATERS FOR RUSSIAN DIPLOMATS

Relations between Russia and the United States remained wobbly over the past fortnight as, amid new recriminations regarding Washington's plans to bring the U.S. antiterror war to Georgia (see below), the two sides also continued to joust over strategic arms cuts, Russian cooperation with Iran,... MORE

NATO-RUSSIA TALKS CONTINUE

Negotiations between Russia and the NATO military alliance on a new cooperation agreement have been similarly muddy. The two sides announced after a fresh round of talks on February 27 that they had made some progress in this area, but the vagueness of their joint... MORE

GEORGIA TO HOST U.S. SPECIAL FORCES

As anticipated, the United States and Georgia are taking the next logical step, after having announced that international terrorists are, after all, hiding in the Pankisi Gorge. That next step is to give Georgian forces the capability to operate in Pankisi, before Russian forces bludgeon... MORE

RUSSIA STEPS UP PRESSURE ON TBILISI

The U.S. mission is supposed to be under full steam in about a month. Nevertheless, yesterday's flurry of announcements--informal though officially authorized--comes not a moment too soon. It follows a barrage of Russian threats to intervene militarily in Georgia--whether unilaterally or "jointly" with Georgian troops--using,... MORE

FIGHTING IN CHECHNYA: NEW REVELATIONS

Perhaps the most startling comment of the political fortnight came from Sergei Yastrzhembsky, President Vladimir Putin's main spokesman on issues related to Chechnya. On February 8 the presidential aide said that the "antiterrorist" operation in Chechnya would have been over a long time ago had... MORE