As late as this January international financial organizations had threatened the Armenian government with reduced financing of development programs if the government did not meet its commitments to co-finance these programs. The Armenian minister of finance and economy had recently stated that funds assigned by... MORE

In a move apparently aimed both at demonstrating the independence of Russia's foreign policy and at countering U.S. missile defense plans, the Kremlin has announced in recent days that President Vladimir Putin will meet this spring with the leaders of Iran and North Korea. The... MORE

Radio Liberty has started "the planning process" for broadcasting in Avar, Chechen and Circassian, languages spoken in three republics of Russia's North Caucasus region--Dagestan, Chechnya and Karachaevo-Cherkessia. On February 8, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty President Thomas A. Dine announced that the U.S. government-funded station's managers... MORE

Meeting in the snow-bound Tyrolean Austrian Alps near Innsbruck on February 10, Presidents Vaira Vike-Freiberga of Latvia and Vladimir Putin of Russia seem to have made a new phase in bilateral relations possible, essentially on the basis that Latvia had all along sought--namely, a nonpolemical... MORE

Speculation continues around President Eduard Shevardnadze's February 5 statement about Georgia's strategic options by the end of his current--and last--term of office in 2005. In a press conference that day, Shevardnadze declared that Georgia should four years from now be in a position to decide... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin's seemingly never-ending road show resumed this past weekend with a three-day visit to Austria. His choice of destination appeared to underscore what some in Russia are saying will be one of the Kremlin's top foreign policy priorities in the coming year:... MORE

The reports arriving from Ukraine over the last few days indicate the possibility of a delay in the disbursement of the first quarterly US$187 million tranche of International Monetary Fund (IMF) financing originally scheduled for March 2001 (Reuters, February 7). As of February 7, the... MORE

The political crisis in Ukraine, which erupted after the disappearance of the political journalist Georgy Gongadze last fall, is gaining momentum and seriously threatening Leonid Kuchma's presidency. Mass protests were staged in Kyiv last week. The protestors' demands are simple but sweeping: dismissal of the... MORE

On February 10, at an emergency closed-door session of Ukraine's Security Council, President Leonid Kuchma fired two of his henchmen: Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) chief Leonid Derkach and State Guard Directorate chief Volodymyr Shepel. No official explanation for the dismissals was given, but the... MORE

Reversing a years-long policy of official neglect, Russian officials indicated this week that Moscow will step up efforts to begin destroying the more than 40,000 tons of lethal chemical weapons the government has admitted possessing. The announcement came during a meeting in Moscow between Zinovy... MORE