Meanwhile, RFE/RL has created a controversy of its own by removing Savik Shuster as head of the Radio Liberty Moscow bureau. Shuster says that he was ousted for continuing to appear on an NTV soccer talk show following the television channel's takeover by the state-controlled... MORE

On May 11 in Bratislava, prime ministers of ten countries aspiring to enter NATO joined with top public figures from NATO countries for a conference on "Europe's New Democracies: Leadership and Responsibility," as part of political preparations for NATO's Prague summit. While advancing the case... MORE

On May 13, Moldova's President Vladimir Voronin and the Metropolitan Vladimir of Chisinau and All Moldova arrived together for a pre-announced visit at the Noul Neamt monastery and theological seminary, which Transdniester's ecclesiastical and security authorities had seized on April 27. Since then, Voronin had... MORE

Investigators from the Prosecutor General's Office carried out searches yesterday at the offices of Radio Ekho Moskvy, the last major outlet of Vladimir Gusinsky's Media-Most group to remain outside the direct control of Gazprom, Media-Most's main creditor. There were contradictory reports in the Russian media... MORE

Lawyers for Media-Most founder Vladimir Gusinsky yesterday were given access to materials involved in the new criminal charges recently made against their client. Gusinsky has been charged with criminal wrongdoing on the basis of Article 174, Part 3 of Russian's criminal code, which covers large-scale... MORE

During his May 9 "Victory Day" speech before troops and military veterans assembled on Moscow's Red Square, President Vladimir Putin made a thinly veiled threat to Chechen rebels, saying they should end their guerrilla war or expect a new military offensive against them. "We cannot... MORE

Russia's Lukoil threatens Lithuania's oil-processing industry with strangulation or capture. Lukoil and, behind it, the Russian government seem unreconciled to the role of the American company Williams International as sole strategic investor in, and operator of, that Lithuanian industry. Lukoil wants a large equity share... MORE

President Alyaksandr Lukashenka used a Soviet-style Victory Day rally on May 8 to launch his presidential reelection campaign. In his speech he described the democratic opposition's five declared presidential aspirants as "five traitors," who have been "selected inside the country" to serve Western interests. The... MORE

Interviewed during his recent visit to the NATO candidate country Lithuania, President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine reviewed the development of his country's special relationship with the Atlantic alliance during his presidency thus far. Since the signing in 1997 of the NATO-Ukraine Distinct Partnership Charter, Ukraine's... MORE

A day after Russia's Victory Day celebration, which marked the first time in the country's history that the holiday had been presided over by a "civilian" defense minister, it is worth looking at some of the key personnel changes defense chief Sergei Ivanov has made... MORE