One indication of Russiandefense minister Pavel Grachev's standing in Moscow is a reporton NTV July 9. According to a commentator, "for Russia, PavelGrachev is the Chapayev of today," a reference to the RussianCivil War hero who has been the butt of jokes about incompetenceand absurdity... MORE

Despite the vicious murder of sevenmembers of a Chechen family near Grozny, continuing anger overYeltsin's decree about Russian basing in Chechnya and whetherits modification really meant anything, and both violence in Chechnyaand anti-Russian demonstrations in Grozny, the talks continuedall weekend with apparently substantial progress on... MORE

Russia's Constitutional Courton June 10 began consideration of a parliamentary challenge tothree Yeltsin decrees which provided the legal basis for Moscow'sintervention in Chechnya, Russian radio reported. Deputy PrimeMinister Sergei Shakhrai said Yeltsin had asked him to representthe president in court, adding that he, Shakhrai, was... MORE

Maj. Gen. Valeriy Datlenko, the director of Rostov's FederalSecurity Service office, told journalists July 6 that intelligenceservices from the Middle East, the West and China were activelyinvolved in developments in the North Caucasus, Kommersant-Dailyreported July 7. He said that some of these services werebeing helped,... MORE

After severalfalse starts, the Duma has passed a new law to regulate the conductof referenda allowed for by Russia's constitution, Russian radioreported July 7. Either the Constitutional Assembly--the two housesof parliament meeting jointly--or a petition signed by two millionRussian citizens, can force a referendum. The... MORE

Newly retired Lt. Gen. AleksandrLebed topped a presidential preference poll, with 7.9 percentof all respondents saying they would like to vote for him, Kommersant-Dailyreported July 7. Grigoriy Yavlinsky, who had been in firstplace at the end of May, slipped to second by the end of... MORE

Ata meeting with representatives of the new Council of CompatriotsAbroad, prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin said that "therestoration of citizenship and provision of assistance for thoseethnic Russians returning to Russia is one of the most importantdirections" of Moscow's policy, Russian television reportedJuly 7. He also said... MORE

Russian borderguards and their dependents will be tried in special Russian courtsunder an order signed last week by justice minister Valentin Kovalevand border guards service director Andrei Nikolayev, Segodnyareported July 7. Presumably these new courts will operatein the CIS countries where Russian border guards are... MORE

Andrei Illarionov,the director of the Institute of Economic Analysis, told Moscowradio July 8 that the Russian government's soft peg of the rublewill not work as planned: the period for stabilization is tooshort and inflation remains too high. Illarionov suggested thatpegging the ruble in the range... MORE

Theauthor of the soft peg program, acting Central Bank chief TatyanaParamonova, reaffirmed her belief that the peg would work, Russianmedia reported July 7. One measure she said would help solve thepayments crisis would be the massive introduction and use of Western-stylecredit cards. Russian Pay Increases... MORE