Vladimir Shumeiko, the influential speaker of Russia's Federation Council, has joined forces with the leaders of some of Russia's largest regions to create a new political movement. Other leaders of the new movement, which is to be entitled "Russian Reforms--A New Course," include the governors... MORE

Meanwhile, clear signs of disagreement over stabilization policies have emerged between Aleksandr Livshits, President Yeltsin's chief economic adviser, and first deputy prime minister and economic policy overlord Anatoly Chubais. In an interview with Interfax November 22, Livshits attached high priority to reducing interest rates and... MORE

On November 22, the Duma overwhelmingly approved Sergei Dubinin as the new chairman of Russia's Central Bank. Born in 1950, Dubinin worked as an academic economist before entering the government. In February 1994, he was appointed acting finance minister and appears to have adhered to... MORE

The Russian Defense Ministry's international cooperation section chief, Col.-General Dmitry Kharchenko, has announced that Russia will fail to meet a 31 December deadline for scrapping military hardware beyond the Ural mountains under the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty. Claiming that Russia did not have... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin and the Foreign Ministry are praising the Dayton peace agreement on Bosnia, but with two significant reservations. First, they insist on acceptance of Russia's terms regarding its participation in the peacekeeping operation and in political control over that operation. Second, Moscow favors... MORE

Russia may soon lose its remaining leverage on Croatia, where Russian peacekeepers have sought to shield the Serb conquest of eastern Slavonia. The Dayton agreement that averted war between Croatia and the Serbs calls for a 12-month transitional period in eastern Slavonia, giving the UN... MORE

Muscovites have become alarmed in recent weeks by claims from Chechen rebels, notably well-known commander Shamil Basayev, that radioactive substances had been secreted at various locations in Russia, and might be used as weapons in the Chechen fight for independence. These fears were exacerbated yesterday,... MORE

More than 1,000 representatives of defense industry workers picketed the government building on Moscow's Krasnopresnenskaya embankment, demanding the government repay the entire wage debt of 1.8 trillion rubles to the industry's workforce. The picket was organized by the naval shipbuilders' union and included representatives of... MORE

Russia plans to acquire 32 SS-19 strategic missiles from Ukraine in a deal that will maintain its nuclear weapons potential until 2009, a senior Russian military commander said today. Colonel General Igor Sergeyev, commander-in-chief of strategic forces, said the missile accord had been reached at... MORE

. A first-instance court in Almaty yesterday sentenced Nikolai Gunkin, ataman of the self-styled Semirechye Cossack Host, to three months in a corrective labor institution for instigating unlawful rallies and demonstrations by Russian Cossacks in Kazakhstan. The sentence is appealable; the law provides for a... MORE