Alfred Kokh, an ally of presidential chief-of-staff Anatoly Chubais, has been named to head Russia's State Property Committee which oversees privatization. (NTV, September 13) The 35-year-old Kokh is the first member of the government to be appointed not by presidential decree but by prime ministerial... MORE

While international attention focuses on Central Asia's oil and gas resources, concentrated in the western part of the region, its newly independent states are also opening their wealth of metallic ores, located further to the east, for mining in partnership with Western firms. While it... MORE

Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma says Ukraine is willing to study the status of the Black Sea port of Sevastopol "in light of international experience." (Interfax-Ukraine, September 12) He was commenting on recent statements from Moscow, where Security Council Secretary Aleksandr Lebed has said he wants... MORE

The governor of Nizhny Novgorod oblast, Boris Nemtsov, has warned that, if Yeltsin is away sick for a protracted period, Russia may be plunged into an all-out struggle for power. In that case, Nemtsov says, "the ranks of Yeltsin's supporters, riven as they are by... MORE

Aleksandr Lebed has not had a good week. He has come under fire from all sides for "capitulating" to the Chechen opposition. Even those Russian newspapers that approve of the ceasefire are full of gloomy predictions that, no matter how much money Moscow puts into... MORE

The commander of Russian forces in Chechnya, Lt. Gen. Vyacheslav Tikhomirov, said that the next stage of the withdrawal of Russian troops from the republic has been put on hold. "Until a number of questions connected with prisoners of war and other forcibly held persons... MORE

In an election speech to the staff of the Metsamor nuclear power plant, President Levon Ter-Petrosian said that as a result of recent realignments in the region, Armenia's "first economic partner" is now Iran; and that Armenia-Iran relations are also close politically. (See Monitor, September... MORE

As the U.S. continued to beef up its military forces in the Persian Gulf yesterday, Russia's foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov warned in Moscow that a unilateral decision by any government to use force -- without UN sanction--is "absolutely unacceptable." At the same time, a Foreign... MORE

The foreign minister of rump Yugoslavia, in Moscow yesterday on an official visit, called the recent detention by Yugoslav border guards of Russian ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky an incident of no consequence. (Itar-Tass, September 12) Zhirinovsky, who on September 9 had tried to cross into... MORE

Russian Foreign Ministry officials indicated yesterday that Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov will not be visiting the Baltic States anytime soon as the "prerequisites" for a visit are lacking. On the previous day, Latvian foreign minister Valdis Birkavs had publicly recalled Primakov's "promise" earlier this year... MORE