Following the Russian parliament's summer recess, the process of bringing the laws of the country's republics and regions into line with federal norms has begun again in earnest. President Vladimir Putin kicked the process off when he divided Russia into seven federal districts in the... MORE

In April of this year, Moldova came very close to making history as the first post-Soviet country to install a communist government. President Petru Lucinschi and the Communist Party had made an alliance, designed to secure Lucinschi's reelection this coming November and the lion's share... MORE

In remarks made to reporters on September 8, the Russian official tasked with investigating the tragic loss of the submarine Kursk--Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov--said that the causes of the disaster would be known by the time that the government commission he heads meets on... MORE

On September 16, a delegation headed by Swiss Federal Prosecutor Valentin Roschacher ended a three-day visit to Moscow. The Swiss officials reportedly handed over to their Russian counterparts "several packages" of materials related to the so-called Aeroflot case, involving the alleged embezzlement of hundreds of... MORE

The main news out of Chechnya involves the continuing clashes between Russian troops and Chechen rebels. On September 17, Russian Interior Ministry units carried out a special operation in the southern mountainous regions of Chechnya. According to the Russian military, six Chechen fighters were killed... MORE

Interviewed in the Tallinn daily Postimees last week, Foreign Affairs Minister Toomas Ilves observed that Estonia's steps to improve relations with Russia have had practically no effect on Moscow's policy. That observation rests on ample evidence. Four years ago, Estonia agreed to drop the articles... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin, it was revealed this week, put his signature on the "information security doctrine" developed by his advisory Security Council. While the doctrine declares support for freedom of speech and the free flow of information, it also identifies what its authors see... MORE

Transparency International, the corruption watchdog organization based in Berlin, came out this week with its annual Corruption Perceptions Index, which ranks countries according to their level of corruption as perceived by businessmen and others working and living in them. Transparency International uses a variety of... MORE

The long, determined and often ugly effort by Russian security authorities to hang a treason charge on a retired Russian Navy captain came to a happy end this week when the Russian Supreme Court threw out a bid by prosecutors to reopen the espionage case... MORE

Cossack Steppe-2000," an exercise of rapid-deployment troops, has been underway since September 11 at Ukraine's military training range Opuk near Feodosya on the Black Sea. Some 900 soldiers--including British Royal Marines, Polish airborne troops and Ukrainian marine infantry [marines]--as well as forty armored vehicles, six... MORE