Latest Monitor Articles

KASYANOV SIGNS DECREE ORDERING CONTROL OVER MINISTERIAL PROFITS.

Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov has signed a decree ordering that any profits made from entrepreneurial activities carried out by federal government ministries or agencies must be placed in the country's federal treasury system. According to the decree, the treasury has until December 1 of this... MORE

VALENTIN ROSCHACHER COMPLAINS OF INACTION IN AEROFLOT CASE.

Switzerland's top law enforcement official has expressed concern over the Russian authorities' lack of cooperation in the investigation into the alleged embezzlement and laundering of hundreds of millions of dollars from Aeroflot, the Russian state airline through two Swiss companies connected to Boris Berezovsky. In... MORE

KUCHMA SUCCEEDS IN SIGNING GAS SUPPLY AGREEMENT WITH TURKMENISTAN.

As winter looms, Ukraine faces energy shortages, mounting arrears for Russian gas, and demands to settle those arrears by ceding ownership shares in Ukraine's energy sector to Russia. The Russian government and Gazprom seem to require that form of debt settlement as a condition to... MORE

UZBEK AUTHORITIES APPEAR WILLING TO IMPLEMENT FURTHER REFORMS.

Uzbek Finance Minister Rustam Azimov said on September 28 that the government of Uzbekistan plans to launch sweeping economic reforms, including full convertibility of its currency, next year. The Uzbek authorities are hoping to bring the official and commercial exchange rates gradually closer to one... MORE

DIFFERENCES ON RUSSIAN BUDGET REMAIN UNRESOLVED.

Russia's autumn conscription period opens amid a continuing political struggle over the size of the country's military budget for next year and on the eve of a series of potentially important--and controversial--changes in the way in which money is allocated to the Defense Ministry. As... MORE

GAZPROM CHIEF SAYS A WESTERN MEDIA HOLDING WANTS MEDIA-MOST.

Rem Vyakhirev, head of Gazprom, Russia's 38-percent state-owned natural gas monopoly, said yesterday that a "European media holding" had expressed interest in buying Media-Most, the holding which is both headed by Vladimir Gusinsky and in debt to Gazprom for more than US$400 million. Vyakhirev, who... MORE

CHECHEN MILITARY OPERATION MARKS FIRST ANNIVERSARY.

On October 3, 1999, Russia introduced troops into Chechnya. Officially, Moscow gave two reasons for its military operation--the invasion by fighters lead by Shamil Basaev and Khattab into Dagestan, and the destruction of apartment buildings in Moscow and Volgodonsk in the autumn of 1999, which... MORE

CATCH THE THIEF.

On October 2, the Estonian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) filed an inquiry concerning the delay in the restitution to the Baltic states of their pre-war embassy buildings in Paris and Rome. The Russian government refuses to return the... MORE

TWO CRIMINAL TRIALS IN AZERBAIJAN.

On September 22, the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan sentenced seven members of an illegal armed group, created by former OPON [Special-Purpose Police Detachments] officers. Three defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment, and four others to prison terms of up to fifteen years, on charges of... MORE

NEW STATE COUNCIL CONVENES.

The presidium of Russia's new State Council met for the first time on September 29 (Russian agencies, September 29). The new body is being set up at President Vladimir Putin's initiative in an effort to reconcile Russia's governors to the loss of their seats in... MORE