Russian military reform was again squarely in the headlines yesterday, as Russian President Vladimir Putin summoned both newly named Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and the long-serving chief of the Russian General Staff, General Anatoly Kvashnin, to the Kremlin for a meeting. Putin's decision to huddle... MORE

Moscow's Arbitration Court yesterday refused to consider a suit brought by Media Most Capital and Management Ltd., a Gibraltar-based affiliate of Vladimir Gusinsky's Media-Most group, challenging the right of Leadville Investments Ltd., a Cyprus-based affiliate of Gazprom-Media, to convene a special meeting of NTV television's... MORE

Russia's Foreign Affairs Ministry has reaffirmed in stark terms the Soviet thesis on the events of 1940 and their consequences regarding the Baltic states. In a statement issued on March 27-28 and directed at Lithuania, but applicable in every detail to the three Baltic states,... MORE

Effective suppression of the narcotics business in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, and the transfer of much of that business to opposition-held northeastern Afghanistan and Tajikistan, are twin aspects of a process generally overlooked by Western media and governments. The Afghan side of that process has, however, been... MORE

In a long anticipated move which nevertheless managed to catch most observers by surprise, Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday began a reshuffle of top government military and security posts many believe is but a harbinger of more far-reaching changes within the country's defense establishment. From... MORE

For months now, observers have been predicting that President Vladimir Putin would begin his long-awaited government reshuffle by replacing Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov. Kasayanov and the other members of the cabinet's economic team, however, managed to keep their jobs--at least thus far. The main changes... MORE

Russia's powerful Atomic Energy Ministry (Minatom) suffered an important and unexpected defeat last week when the Russian State Duma postponed discussion and a vote on a controversial package of legislation which would permit the ministry to import into Russia some 20,000 tons of spent nuclear... MORE

On March 26, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) inaugurated the first international pipeline dedicated to moving Caspian oil to world markets. The pipeline, which took some eight years to plan and build, will bring Kazakhstani oil to Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiisk and from... MORE

Russia's industrial slowdown, combined with recent gloomy developments in both the United States and global economies, has led many economists to predict that Russia is headed for a recession--if indeed one has not already begun (see the Monitor, March 27). This claim has been made... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin, only two days removed from high-profile summit talks with European Union leaders in Stockholm, jetted across Russia this past weekend to take part in a second summit meeting--this one with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori in Irkutsk on March 25. The... MORE