Poland resists, Slovakia seems to accept and West Europeans consider Moscow's plan to establish a gas export route that would bypass Ukraine. Unveiled by Gazprom and the Russian government in July with a marked sense of urgency (see the Monitor, August 1), the plan aims... MORE

Recent reports from the State Statistical Committee (Reuters, August 16) show that Ukraine's merchandise exports grew by 18 percent in the first half of this year to US$6.3 billion. In addition to helping to finance even more rapid (22 percent) growth in imports, this export... MORE

The embattled Ukrainian Deputy Premier for Fuel and Energy Yulia Tymoshenko is being forced out of the government. Since her appointment in January, Tymoshenko, striving to introduce market principles in Ukraine's most corrupt industry--energy--and to ease energy dependence on Russia, has struggled against the oligarchs... MORE

As had been expected by many observers, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori failed during talks in Tokyo this week to make any progress in resolving differences related to the Kuril Islands territorial dispute. The continuing impasse only confirmed convictions that... MORE

Some observers see this week's announcement by Boris Berezovsky--that he plans to divest himself of the 49-percent stake in Russian Public Television (ORT) he has long been believed to control--as a sign that the controversial tycoon and former State Duma deputy is reaching the end... MORE

The apparent bad blood between President Vladimir Putin and Boris Berezovsky got worse last month--first with Berezovsky's open letter proclaiming the formation of a "constructive opposition" to Putin's centralizing plans, and then with ORT's coverage of the Kursk disaster, which the Kremlin apparently found to... MORE

From September 3 through 5, Belarusan President Alyaksandr Lukashenka paid an official visit to Cuba during which he described that country's ruler Fidel Castro as a world statesman and a political model to emulate. Lukashenka, furthermore, noted "the similarity between the positions of Belarus and... MORE

With world and Russian media focused in recent weeks on the furor and recriminations which accompanied the tragic loss of the Russian submarine Kursk on August 12, little attention has been paid to the meeting of the Russian Security Council on August 11. Indeed, criticisms... MORE

President Putin's appointment of the president of Tatarstan to the presidium of Russia's new State Council suggests that the Kremlin's attack on the regions has bogged down. On September 1, Putin kept his promise to Russia's regional leaders when he signed a decree setting up... MORE

On August 30, the Russian government announced its decision to abandon the 1992 Bishkek agreement on visa-free travel by citizens of CIS member countries across those countries' borders (see the Monitor, September 1). On September 4, Russia's Foreign Affairs Ministry announced that it had officially... MORE