Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo said at the end of last week that he had information concerning the whereabouts of Kenneth Gluck, the American member of the international aid group Doctors Without Borders who was kidnapped in Chechnya earlier this month. Rushailo said that the law... MORE

On January 19, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma fired the embattled Deputy Premier Yulia Tymoshenko, the controversial energy entrepreneur who turned energy industry reformer a year ago. Officially, Tymoshenko was fired on request from Prosecutor General Mykhaylo Potebenko, who complained to Kuchma that her remaining in... MORE

On a visit to Ukraine on January 18-19, Russia's Defense Minister Igor Sergeev sought to exploit the internal political crisis there and draw Ukraine into closer military relations with Russia. Sergeev appeared prepared to capitalize on the mutually debilitating conflict between--and, increasingly, within--Ukraine's branches of... MORE

As reported last week, the talks in Moscow last week between Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei Kono and his Russian opposite number, Igor Ivanov, produced some friendly rhetoric but appeared to yield little in the way of substantive progress on several of the key issues which... MORE

More than 1,000 human rights activists gathered in Moscow over the weekend for an All-Russian Emergency Congress in Defense of Human Rights. Sergei Kovalev, the State Duma deputy, Soviet-era dissident and human rights activist who is currently chairman of Memorial, delivered the congress's keynote address... MORE

The detention of Pavel Borodin, the Russia-Belarus union state secretary and former Kremlin property manager, continues to be a major focus of attention in Moscow. Borodin was arrested last week at New York's JFK International Airport in answer to a Swiss warrant, and remains in... MORE

Russia's inability--or refusal--to fully service its foreign debts has brought long-running tensions between Moscow and the Paris Club of sovereign creditors to new heights. If they are not resolved quickly, these tensions could have important economic and political consequences in 2001 and beyond. These include:... MORE

Despite their howls of protest, Russia's creditors should not have been particularly surprised by these developments. This is because Russia to date has serviced precious little of the Paris Club debt it inherited from the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. Five years of torturous negotiations... MORE

Russian sources have reported in recent days that President Vladimir Putin may have put off a series of key decisions related to reducing and restructuring Russia's troubled armed forces. Few details have been made public, but at least one Russian daily has speculated that the... MORE

Pavel Borodin, state secretary of the Russia-Belarus union and former Kremlin property manager, will remain in a Brooklyn jail at least until January 25, when a district court will take up his case. Borodin, who was arrested late January 17 upon arriving at John F.... MORE