Rodionov's appointment was greeted with some enthusiasm in Moscow yesterday, and his praises were sung by such diverse political figures as ultra-nationalists Vladimir Zhirinovsky and retired general Albert Makashov, the Communist chairman of the Duma's security committee, Viktor Ilyukhin, and retired general Eduard Vorobev and... MORE

A senior Russian officer yesterday launched a blistering attack on NATO's plans for expansion. General Staff first deputy chief Col. General Vladimir Zhurbenko charged that enlargement would lead to a "new geopolitical partition of Europe and, in practical terms, the ouster of Russia to the... MORE

Bodies of four Russian officers and six soldiers were discovered today near the village of Khatuni in southern Chechnya. The POWs were apparently executed by rebel fighters in response to the Russian assaults on Gekhi and Makhkety. According to a Russian command spokesman, all ten... MORE

The energy supply crisis in Russia's Far East (See Monitor, July 17) could leave strategic rocket facilities in the region without power and endanger the nation's security, a senior strategic rocket forces officer said yesterday. Russia's forces are no less vulnerable to such threats than... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin ended a month of Kremlin intrigue yesterday by appointing an ally of Security Council secretary Aleksandr Lebed to the post of defense minister. (Russian and Western agencies, July 17) Col. General Igor Rodionov, best known in the West for his role... MORE

U.S. vice president Al Gore paid a visit on the evening of July 17 to Sergei Kovalev, Russia's leading champion of human rights. Kovalev, who has been hospitalized since suffering a heart attack earlier this month, has spearheaded opposition in Russia to the war in... MORE

In response to the recent spate of bombings in Moscow, the governor of Russia's Sverdlovsk oblast has introduced a "special regime" in the region and ordered the police to maintain a constant presence on public highways. Governor Eduard Rossel justified his action by the fact... MORE

Police in Russia's capital city said yesterday that they have been deluged with bomb threats since last week's two bus bombings. They report having received 96 calls warning of bombs and suspicious looking objects on July 16 alone, and say that phony threats at the... MORE

U.S. deputy secretary of state Strobe Talbott and other senior officials conferred yesterday in Kiev with President Leonid Kuchma and other Ukrainian leaders. The U.S. officials noted the progress of Ukraine's political and economic reforms, urged their continuation, expressed readiness for closer bilateral ties, and... MORE

Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov charged in Moscow yesterday that the deliberations of the international tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague are "overly politicized and unbalanced." He also criticized calls to arrest Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic for extradition to the Hague, saying... MORE