Creation of a CIS Antiterrorism Center topped Russia's agenda at the June 19-21 summit of the CIS (see the Monitor, June 22-23). Reports filtering out of Moscow and some of the member countries' capitals since the summit suggest that differences over the center's mission, size... MORE

Russia suffered another diplomatic defeat over Chechnya at the hands of the Council of Europe yesterday, as the European human rights organization's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) reaffirmed an earlier decision which suspended Russia's membership in the body on the basis of the ongoing war in the... MORE

Yesterday, for the fourth day running, heavy fighting continued in the region around the Chechen village of Serzhen-Yurt between Russian units and Chechen fighters under rebel field commander Khattab. Both sides have sustained losses. Russian artillery and aviation continue to hit wooded areas between the... MORE

The State Duma is set to take up President Vladimir Putin's three draft laws limiting the powers of Russia's regional leaders. The Duma is expected to approve two of the bills--one giving the president the right to remove regional leaders or dissolve a regional legislature... MORE

The June 26-27 Russia-Belarus summit illustrated, as does its aftermath, the political stake vested by the leaders in the "union state" and the practical obstacles to building this edifice. Presidents Vladimir Putin and Alyaksandr Lukashenka co-chaired a Moscow session of the union state's Higher Council.... MORE

On June 27, Kazakhstan's bicameral parliament adopted in the second and final reading a constitutional bill which confers lifetime political and legal "rights" on President Nursultan Nazarbaev. The bill passed with fifty-nine votes in favor, five opposed and three abstentions in the Majlis (lower house)... MORE

The Federation Council yesterday voted 219 to 13 against a Kremlin-sponsored draft law which would deprive governors and regional legislature heads of their seats in the upper parliamentary chamber. The draft law, which would rob the regional leaders of the immunity from criminal prosecution which... MORE

Igor Malashenko, first deputy head of Vladimir Gusinsky's Media-Most group, was briefly stopped from leaving Russia yesterday to attend an economic forum in Salzburg, Austria. Border guards came on board Malashenko's plane at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport, telling him he could not travel and seizing his... MORE

Russia's long-delayed and much-maligned Zvezda space module is at last set for launch, Russian and U.S. space officials announced this week. The module, a 24-ton cylinder which will serve as the living quarters for the International Space Station's (ISS) permanent crew, is to be launched... MORE

Uzbekistan's new defense minister, Lieutenant-General Yuri Agzamov, signed a wide-ranging agreement on bilateral military cooperation with his Russian counterpart Igor Sergeev last week in Moscow. As with other agreements of this type within the CIS, "cooperation" is a euphemism for the signatory country's military dependence... MORE