Russia' Choice leader Yegor Gaidar sharply criticized foreign minister Andrei Kozyrev for his drift toward nationalism, Vek reported in its June 9-15 issue. "In 1993 Kozyrev was a liberal foreign minister and our supporter. But in 1994 he approved the war in Chechnya and today... MORE

Russia's GNP in 1996 will be 1.45 quadrillion rubles (approximately $300 billion), and the ruble-dollar exchange rate will average 6000 to one, the finance ministry told Ogonek (no. 23). Both figures are optimistic; Russian economists continue to suggest that the ruble will fall further and... MORE

The director of Moscow's Economics Analysis Institute told Vek June 9-15 that any reintegration of the former Soviet space would cost Russians money. Dismissing as a "myth" that Russia had suffered economic losses as a result of the breakup of the USSR, Andrei Illarionov said... MORE

There were more strikes during the first quarter of 1995 than in all of 1994, the chief of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia told Delovoy mir (no. 21). Mikhail Shmakov said that the Russian government should recognize just how much social tension... MORE

Federal Tax Service chief Vladimir Gusev told Interfax June 12 that his agency is lobbying for a bill that would reduce the number of federal and regional taxes, and would restrict the authority of regional governments to impose new ones. In some regions, the number... MORE

The Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations wants to establish special credit guarantees to help Russian exporters, Kommersant-Daily reported June 3. The paper suggested that this proposal was part of the ministry's efforts to retain its own bureaucratic role and to control exports as it has... MORE

Russian consular officials in the former Soviet republics have put a variety of obstacles in the way of ethnic Russians who want to claim Russian citizenship, Ogonek (no. 23) reported. The weekly said that part of the reason for this was a desire by such... MORE

Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov has sued Russia's First Deputy Premier Anatoly Chubais for saying that Luzhkov's government was involved in profiteering from the importation of food, Russian radio reported June 12. Last week, Chubais said that Yeltsin's plan to impose new tariffs on imported food... MORE

Russian radio reported June 13 that an oil pipeline near the northern Russian city of Usinsk had ruptured again, but the radio said that local authorities had contained the spill and were making repairs. Northern Peoples Demand Their Own Ministry.

At the tenth congress of the cities of northern Russian, the ethnic communities living in Russia's arctic regions have called on Moscow to set up a special ministry of the north, Russian television reported June 13. The congress chairman said that Moscow had failed to... MORE