Duma Deputy Irina Khakamada has announcedthe formation of a Common Cause electoral bloc to unite women, youth, and thepoor, Moscow radio reported May 16. Khakamada said she expects her group willattract 10% of the vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections because itappeals to what she... MORE

Writing in the May 12Nezavisimaya gazeta, political scientist Dmitri Olshansky said that a recentNational Democratic Institute seminar in Moscow had encouraged Russia toorganize a two-party system. Olshansky said that US Deputy Secretary of StateStrobe Talbott actively pushed this idea at the meeting. If Presidential Elections... MORE

A recent poll conducted by thePublic Opinion Foundation found that 8% of Russians would vote for reformerGrigory Yavlinsky if presidential elections were held today, Kuranty reportedMay 16. 6% would vote for nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky and conservativeAleksandr Rutskoy, 4% would vote for General Aleksandr Lebed, but... MORE

Rossiiskaya gazeta onMay 17 said that those thinking about running for the Duma should rememberthat under the terms of a law which will come into effect after the election,deputies in the next session will not be allowed to serve in the cabinet,hold a civil service... MORE

Following Gen. Aleksandr Lebed'sremarks May 12 that his removal could spark a new war in Moldova, Dumadeputies from across the political spectrum appealed to President Yeltsin tokeep the controversial general in place, Moskovsky komsomolets reported May17. The paper said that the Duma members were especially... MORE

On a day when President Yeltsin signed a decreepreventing any further privatization of public education, the Duma wasconsidering legislation that would allow the government to privatize nuclearpower plans, nuclear submarines, and even nuclear test ranges, Izvestiyareported May 17. The paper said that this was both... MORE

Moscow police arrestedseveral members of the environmental protection group Greenpeace on May 17.The activists were protesting the Russian government's decision to allowforeign firms to dispose their trash in Russia, Moscow Radio reported. Thedemonstrators might have vented their anger at a number of otherenvironmental issues, e.g.,... MORE

Andrei Illarionov,former economic advisor to Yeltsin, and now chief of the Moscow Institute ofEconomic Analysis, told Segodnya May 17 that, government claims to thecontrary, 85% of the state budget deficit this year will in fact be financedby inflationary means--including easy credit from banks and very... MORE

Although he reported "zero"progress in rescheduling Russia's debt with the IMF, deputy economicsminister Sergei Vasilyev told Segodnya May 17 that he did expect Russia toget extended fund facility arrangements from that body. Such arrangementswould allow Moscow to borrow up to $10 billion over the next... MORE

Segodnya reported May 17 that theaverage Russian monthly wage fell from $87 in November 1994 to $72 in March1995. Even though wages form a decreasing percentage of incomes, thepopulation's real income declined almost 6% during that period. The economicdecline during the last year has affected... MORE