There has been some reaction in the Russian media to Press Minister Mikhail Lesin's demarche earlier this week involving Russia's image in the United States. During a February 27 press conference, Lesin said that his ministry was working on a series of advertisements aimed at... MORE

While Press Minister Mikhail Lesin took a high profile this week both in trying to counter Western criticism of Kremlin moves against the independent media and in talking up the idea of a Russian government propaganda offensive aimed at the United States, there are reports... MORE

The now longstanding and increasingly heavyhanded effort by Russia's intelligence community to cool contacts between Russian researchers and their Western counterparts appeared to resume yesterday when the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) accused a visiting American student of having ties to the U.S. military intelligence.... MORE

Moscow is again awash in rumors of an impending shake-up at the top of Russia's government. Argumenty i Fakty, one of Russia's most widely read newspapers, reported in this week's issue that President Vladimir Putin is likely to replace his cabinet soon--specifically, immediately after he... MORE

While Argumenty i Fakty this week named Kirienko, Nemtsov, Stepashin and Voloshin as possible replacements for Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, Rossiya put forward a different scenario. Putin, the newspaper predicted, will dismiss his cabinet on March 14, its main sin being that Russia's "army of... MORE

In an apparent response to recent Bush administration charges that Russia is guilty of leaking nuclear and missile technologies, the Russian government last week took a step ostensibly aimed at tightening up its arms export control regime. The Russian move came during a meeting of... MORE

On February 24, President Vladimir Putin submitted a draft law to the State Duma which would rob governors who have either stepped down voluntarily or been removed from office of the right to run again for the post they vacated (Russian agencies, February 24; see... MORE

A group to support President Vladimir Putin has been set up in the upper house of Russia's parliament, the Federation Council (Russian agencies, February 21). Council member Leon Kovalsky, chairman of the Samara Oblast legislative assembly, made the announcement on February 21, during a meeting... MORE

Russia's State Statistical Office (Goskomstat) in mid-January released data on sectoral economic trends in Russia's eighty-nine sub-federal regions (oblasts, krais, republics) in 2000 (Sotsial'no-Ekonomicheskoye Polozhenie Rossii, 2000). Methodologically, these data are less reliable than the sectoral figures reported for Russia as a whole, in part... MORE

The Southern district is an amalgamation of very different regional economies. The southern part of this district includes the impoverished North Caucasus, where mountainous terrain, subsistence agriculture, very large informal sectors, stark poverty and the effects of "antiterrorist operations" in Chechnya dominate the economic picture.... MORE