Speculation over a possible Yeltsin/Yavlinsky coalition is at fever pitch. But Yeltsin may leave Yavlinsky to stew in his own juice for a few days. Yavlinsky is clearly under intense pressure to make a deal not only from Yeltsin allies such as Anatoly Chubais, but... MORE

Vladimir Shumeiko, a close Yeltsin confidant, told Interfax on Sunday that he thought it was possible Grigory Yavlinsky would withdraw from the presidential race in favor of Yeltsin. If Yavlinsky did so, Shumeiko hinted heavily, "his career would make a lot of progress." Shumeiko claimed... MORE

Taking action on a plan that he was reported to have approved nearly a month ago (see Monitor, April 17), President Boris Yeltsin issued a decree May 8 that reorganized Russia's State Committee for Defense Industries into the Ministry of Defense Industries. The head of... MORE

Russian defense minister Pavel Grachev applauded the measures announced by Yeltsin on May 8, saying that they would allow the army to prioritize its procurement activities to meet key technical needs and thus provide it with more state-of-the-art military technology. But Zinovy Pak, who was... MORE

The Office of the Russian Prosecutor General yesterday released from custody and refused to extradite Ayaz Mutalibov, the Azerbaijani former Communist leader and president, wanted by his country's courts on charges of involvement in several armed coup attempts from 1992 to 1995. Shielded by the... MORE

The Office of the Georgian Public Prosecutor announced yesterday the completion of the pretrial investigation against former senior political and leader of the Mkhedrioni (Knights) paramilitary organization, Jaba Ioseliani; former head of the paramilitary Rescue Corps, Gia Gelashvili; and former deputy chief of Georgian State... MORE

Stung by the loss of the town of Tavildara and much of the Tavildara district to the Tajik opposition, the Russian Defense Ministry today sent a group of senior officers on an "emergency mission" to Tajikistan. The Tajik government is rushing Defense, Internal Affairs, and... MORE

Last week, Russian Communist party leader Gennady Zyuganov proposed that he and his chief rival in next month's election, incumbent President Boris Yeltsin, should take part in a live television debate. (Interfax, May 10) On Saturday Yeltsin rejected the proposal, saying he had enough of... MORE

Representatives of a number of democratic parties, including Grigory Yavlinsky's Yabloko, Irina Khakamada's Common Cause, and Boris Fedorov's Forward Russia! met in Moscow Sunday to discuss the creation of a reformist coalition against the Communist-patriotic bloc. Yelena Mizulina of Yabloko attended despite Yavlinsky's denial of... MORE

An American businessman has been expelled from Russia for alleged espionage activities, Russia's Federal Security Service said Sunday. Interfax identified him as Richard Dann Oppfelt, president of Seattle Medical Export, Inc. (AP, May 12) He was said to have been detained by the security service... MORE