Members of a special police rapid reaction force (SOBR) from the city of Cherepovets have sent an appeal to President Vladimir Putin and the Russian authorities, asking them to improve the conditions of service for army and police personnel in the Chechen military operation. The... MORE

On Tuesday (April 9), police in Nazran, Ingushetia, raided a building housing offices for the election campaign of Khamzat Gutseriev, the republic's former interior minister, who was disqualified from the republic's April 7 presidential election just two days before it took place. The raid on... MORE

Russia is seeking to identify "a Ukrainian Putin," declared the Kremlin's top political operative Gleb Pavlovsky in the wake of Ukraine's March 31 parliamentary elections, and then to propel him to Ukraine's presidency when incumbent President Leonid Kuchma's term expires in 2004. Moscow wants the... MORE

On the eve of a two-day visit to Germany (which began yesterday) and with a key Russian-U.S. summit meeting looming, top Russian officials have emitted a mixed message in recent days on one set of issues that could dominate the May 23-26 talks between Presidents... MORE

Of perhaps more importance, both Putin and Ivanov have also voiced very public criticism in recent days of provisions contained in the U.S. Nuclear Posture Review. In his April 7 interview, Putin had much to say on the subject. He suggested that an evaluation of... MORE

Russia's Constitutional Court last week dealt two blows to the country's regional leaders. On April 1, it ruled that governors or other regional heads do not have the right to fire mayors or municipal assembly deputies without a legitimate reason for doing so. Meanwhile, on... MORE

Yesterday (April 9), Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma for the first time publicly identified himself with the For United Ukraine (FUU) bloc. "God willing, I will join you in four years," Kuchma said, meaning the next parliamentary (Verkhovna Rada) elections, scheduled for 2006. Ukraine's constitution stipulates... MORE

A run-off election has been called in the republic of Ingushetia, which went to the polls Sunday (April 7) to elect a new president. The second round will pit Alikhan Amirkhanov, a State Duma deputy, against Murat Zyazikov, deputy presidential representative in the Southern federal... MORE

Negotiations to create a new Russian Federation subject by merging Krasnoyarsk Krai with the Taimyr (Dolgan-Nenetsk) and Evenk Autonomous Districts brought initial results on April 5, when Taimyr Governor Aleksandr Khloponin and Krasnoyarsk Krai Aleksandr Lebed signed an agreement on the possibility of creating a... MORE

Turkmen President Saparmurat Niazov is spreading wider the dragnet of his purge within the state security apparatus and the military. The special state commission, created on March 4 by Niazov and headed by Poran Berdyev, has now come up with a third round of investigative... MORE