A series of accusations of illegal arms trade flying between high-placed Ukrainians early this year (see the Monitor, January 14, March 15) pale against the most recent allegations, this time against President Leonid Kuchma. U.S. experts have confirmed the authenticity of a record by fugitive... MORE

On April 16, the Council of Europe (CE) hosted in Strasbourg a political dialogue among the parliamentary leaders of Moldova's Communist Party and the Christian Democrat People's Party (CDPP, the renamed Popular Front). The CE seeks to stabilize the political situation in Moldova on terms... MORE

Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes appeared to use a visit to Russia last week to signal a vote of confidence by India's military leadership in New Delhi's long-standing defense relationship with Moscow. The visit came approximately three weeks after the Indian defense chief had postponed... MORE

On April 16, some 100 people in the Chechen capital of Djohar (Grozny) staged a protest rally demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya. The protesters, who gathered at the building that headquarters Chechnya's pro-Moscow government, demanded the release of six young people detained... MORE

Anna Politkovskaya, the Chechnya correspondent for the biweekly newspaper Novaya Gazeta, is claiming that the Russian authorities have a plan to resolve the Chechen conflict--or at least to get rid of the name "Chechnya"--by merging Chechnya with the neighboring republic of Ingushetia. In an article... MORE

On April 15 in Minsk, Belarusan Deputy Prime Minister Leanid Kozik revealed the substance of several major economic agreements concluded three days earlier in the Kremlin by Presidents Vladimir Putin and Alyaksandr Lukashenka. On April 16-17, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, along with a bevy... MORE

The Russian military incursion into Georgia's upper Kodori Gorge represents the most serious encroachment on Georgian territory since the 1993 intervention in Abkhazia. Last year, Russia both threatened to intervene militarily in the Pankisi Gorge and bombed the Kodori Gorge several times from the air.... MORE

A high-profile trade row between Russia and the United States looks set to continue this week following moves by Moscow that only partially lift a ban on imported U.S. poultry products. In a joint statement published on April 13, top Bush administration trade officials had... MORE

Voters in Lipetsk and Penzensk Oblasts went to the polls on April 14 to elect governors, and the incumbents won in both cases: Oleg Korolev received more than 73 percent of the vote in Lipetsk, and Vasily Bochkarev 45.5 percent in Penzensk. Both regions allow... MORE

On April 12, the State Duma passed a bill amending the law "On the general principles for organizing legislative (representative) and executive organs of state power in the subjects of the Russian Federation." The idea behind the amendments is that from now on half of... MORE