Two of Russia's oldest democratic organizations voted themselves out of existence over the weekend. Democratic Russia (DR) and Russia's Democratic Choice (DVR)--along with New Force, the small movement associated with Sergei Kirienko, the former prime minister who is now President Vladimir Putin's envoy to the... MORE

Today marks the 80th birthday of Andrei Sakharov, the Soviet-era human rights campaigner who died in 1989. A group of veteran human rights activists and politicians gathered in Sakharov's honor last night at Moscow's Mir movie theatre. Among those who spoke at the event were... MORE

Earlier even than anticipated (see the Monitor, March 29, Fortnight in Review, March 30), Western companies in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) and in the Tengizchevroil consortium are experiencing a rough ride on the Russian stretch of the Tengiz-Novorossiisk pipeline. The difficulties seem to originate... MORE

Kazakhstan's onshore oilfield Tengiz, ranked all along as giant, turns out to contain far more than the initially estimated reserves of oil. The Tengizchevroil consortium that develops the field has released new estimates, based on additional prospection and analysis conducted in the last three years.... MORE

Pavel Borodin, the Russia-Belarus union state secretary, was questioned in Geneva yesterday by investigating magistrate Daniel Devaud in connection with the so-called Mabetex case, which involves charges that, during his tenure as the Kremlin's "property manager," Borodin and others laundered more than US$25 million in... MORE

May 13 marked the first anniversary of President Vladimir Putin's decree creating seven federal districts each run by a presidential envoy, and the anniversary prompted wide discussion of whether the new buffer between the federal and regional authorities has been a success. According to some... MORE

Estonia's currency board, which ties the kroon directly to the euro and prevents the implementation of discretionary monetary policy, leaves fiscal policy as the main instrument for managing aggregate demand, and hence foreign trade and current account deficits. While Estonia's external imbalances fell in 2000,... MORE

During a recent visit to Tbilisi, a team of International Monetary Fund specialists recommended withholding the third US$12 million tranche of the country's US$141 million loan until October. Although the Fund mission praised the Georgian National Bank's monetary policies, it called on the Georgian government... MORE

On May 14-15 in Tbilisi, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov and senior Defense Ministry officials held talks with Georgian Foreign Affairs Minister Irakli Menagharishvili on the Russian military bases in Georgia. Klebanov also met with Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze. The discussions showed that Moscow... MORE

In Tbilisi, the Russian delegation proposed to withdraw the troops from Batumi and Akhalkalaki and close those bases within in fourteen years--one year less than Russia had until now demanded. Such timeframes are meaningless, however. They suggest only that Moscow seeks to retain the bases... MORE