June 8 was the closing day for registering candidates in the race for the governorship of Nizhegorod Oblast. By the end of the day, twelve candidates had registered. Four were refused registration (Russian agencies, June 8). The main contenders are incumbent Governor Ivan Sklyarov, State... MORE

On June 9, the Republic of Tatarstan began issuing Russian passports to its inhabitants (Russian agencies, June 9). Tatarstan's latest struggle with the federal center has ended with both sides agreeing to compromise. On balance, however, the issue has been resolved in Tatarstan's favor. The... MORE

Presidents Eduard Shevardnadze of Georgia, Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine, Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan, Haidar Aliev of Azerbaijan and Vladimir Voronin of Moldova held a summit meeting of the GUUAM group of countries on June 6-7 in Yalta, Ukraine. This long-awaited summit is the first held... MORE

Unlike the CIS, GUUAM does not include a would-be hegemon country. Yet Ukraine has recently emerged as GUUAM's prime mover. It was President Leonid Kuchma and Foreign Affairs Minister Anatoly Zlenko who took the lead in organizing this summit, in spite of Moscow's objections, which... MORE

On June 7, Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada passed a new election law in a vote of 289-14 with 1 abstention. Seventy-nine more deputies, present in the session hall, did not participate in the vote. If President Leonid Kuchma does not veto the new law or if... MORE

Russia's powerful nuclear energy lobby won a major victory last week when lawmakers passed a package of controversial bills intended to turn Russia into one of the world's leading importers of spent nuclear fuel. The June 6 vote was the latest installment in a furious... MORE

On June 8, Vitaly Tretyakov, founder of the newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta (NG), was removed as its chief editor and general director. A meeting of the paper's shareholders took place the same day, during which Tat'yana Koshkareva, the former director of information programs at Russian Public... MORE

Vitaly Tretyakov's removal as Nezavisimaya Gazeta's chief editor is undoubtedly a major event in Russian journalism. While the paper did indeed experience serious financial difficulties on his watch--arrears in salary to the staff total some US$200,000--Tretyakov's removal may mark the end of independent media in... MORE

On June 5, the Latvian government amended some of the procedures for the acquisition of Latvian citizenship, with a view to accelerating the naturalization of Russian/"Russian-speaking" noncitizens. Russia has demanded constantly that these procedures be eased. Latvia's Western partners also favor the idea. Under the... MORE

The naval exercise Baltops (Baltic Operations) 2001 is underway near the Polish coast since June 4, to be completed on June 18. This year's exercise is the largest ever held in the Baltops series. Thirteen NATO member and partner countries are taking part. This year's... MORE