The year 2000 was to have been one of recovery for all of the CIS economies. Spillover effects from the Russian crisis, which had caused GDP declines or sharp slowdowns in GDP growth across the region in 1999, had begun to fade by the second... MORE

An acute lack of rain and high temperatures has devastated the harvest in Armenia, Georgia and Moldova this year. Armenian officials estimate that the drought has destroyed 70 percent of the grain, fodder, vegetable, fruit and potato harvests (Itar-Tass, August 9). Georgia's harvest has also... MORE

The Kremlin has launched what could be yet another major restructuring of the country's arms export establishment. Reports late last week said that President Vladimir Putin had issued a series of decrees merging Russia's two state arms trading companies--Rosvooruzhenie and Promeksport--and removing the directors of... MORE

Gubernatorial elections are continuing in Russia, with ballots scheduled in more than thirty regions. On November 5, elections took place in three oblasts--Kaliningrad, Kursk (in fact, this was a second-round runoff) and Magadan (Russian agencies, November 5). The contest in Kaliningrad was the most dramatic.... MORE

Unlike the results of the Kaliningrad vote, the results of other high-profile regional elections were fully predictable. The candidate of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), Aleksandr Mikhailov, won the run-off election for governor of Kursk Oblast. As of November 6, he had... MORE

The New Politics bloc, narrow winners of the October 8 elections, has since then taken control of the 141-seat parliament and completed the formation of Lithuania's new government. New Politics holds a total of sixty-seven seats, including thirty-four of the right-of-center Liberal Union and twenty-nine... MORE

The seemingly endless negotiations between Russia and Japan over a proposed peace treaty and the related Kuril Islands territorial dispute resumed in Moscow late last week during a visit by Japan's foreign minister. During a two-day stay in Moscow Yohei Kono met with President Vladimir... MORE

Chechen rebel fighters apparently managed to ambush and destroy a Russian armored personnel carrier (APC) yesterday in Djohar [Grozny], the Chechen capital. The incident reportedly took place yesterday afternoon in the Leninsk region of the city when a federal armored personnel carrier came under fire... MORE

Chechen rebel forces are increasingly targeting Chechens deemed to be collaborating with the federal authorities. Early this morning, a powerful radio-controlled mine was detonated underneath a car ferrying the head of the Gudermes regional administration, Malika Gezimieva. The blast severely wounded one of her bodyguards... MORE

Most Russians and Ukrainians are enjoying their best year in terms of income growth since independence. PlanEcon is forecasting 5.9 percent growth in GDP for Russia in 2000, and, after a decade of falling output, Ukraine's first year of positive GDP growth since independence (4.2... MORE