At their meeting with Putin in Odessa on March 17, Kuchma and Moldova's Communist President Vladimir Voronin jointly appealed for the inclusion of these two countries as full members in the Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC). This would-be trading bloc consists thus far of Russia, Belarus,... MORE

Moscow is abuzz with rumors that Russian President Vladimir Putin will, by the end of the year, have acquired the power to appoint regional leaders (Russian agencies, March 13-14). At present, the presidents and governors of Russia's eighty-nine republics, krais and oblasts are all popularly... MORE

The argument between Krasnoyarsk Krai and the Taimyr (Dolgan-Nenetsk) Autonomous District has entered a new and sharper stage. The krai and the autonomous district are fighting over which of them should control the territory on which stands Norilsk Nickel, the largest industrial center in the... MORE

President Islam Karimov's March 13-15 visit to the United States advanced bilateral relations on the parallel tracks of security cooperation and U.S.-assisted internal reforms in Uzbekistan. The visit made it clear that the Bush administration regards both dimensions as integral to its policy. The State... MORE

Afghanistan's interim leader, Hamid Karzai, traveled to Moscow last week for talks with Russian leaders that included meetings with President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. The visit drew little notice from the international press, in part because of pressing events elsewhere around the... MORE

The Kremlin's press service announced Friday (March 15) that President Vladimir Putin had accepted Viktor Gerashchenko's resignation as head of Russia's Central Bank five months before his term was to run out. Putin recommended to Gennady Seleznev, speaker of the State Duma--which, under the country's... MORE

Viktor Gerashchenko's apparently forced resignation as head of the Central Bank was in fact his second such departure: He first headed the Bank from 1992 to October 1994, when he was replaced by Sergei Dubinin in the wake of the "Black Tuesday" ruble crash, whom... MORE

On March 13, Romania's military attache in Chisinau, Colonel Ion Ungureanu, was declared persona non grata and expelled by the Moldovan government. The Moldovan Foreign Affairs Ministry's announcement cited "incontrovertible evidence" that the attache had engaged in covert activities. Other Moldovan officials have since declared... MORE

Russia and the United States appeared this week, at least temporarily, to sweep aside a host of differences on key arms control and other security issues, as a visit to Washington by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov concluded with claims that the two sides were... MORE

Russia's Constitutional Court yesterday struck down four articles of the country's existing Criminal Procedural Code that permitted the detention of criminal suspects for longer than 48 hours without the permission of a court. Prior to the decision, prosecutors had the right to issue a warrant... MORE