The future of Russia's fourteen-year-old Mir space station remains a question mark this week, despite a flurry of activity related to the aging vessel which began early last month and a more recent pledge from Russia's president to support the station. Russian space officials had... MORE

Former Russian Justice Minister Pavel Krasheninnikov, the chairman of a nongovernmental commission set up to investigate human rights issues in Chechnya, met yesterday with former Chechen Interior Minister Kazbek Makhashev during a visit to a refugee camp in Ingushetia. While Krasheninnikov, a member of the... MORE

The newspaper Segodnya today published what it said were sections from the final draft of the Greff center's "Program of priority measures (2000-2004) for realizing the Russian Federation's development strategy through 2010." The document will be presented to representatives of the International Monetary Fund and... MORE

According to both Russian and Iranian reports, Uzbek Islamist guerrillas commanded by Juma Namangani are relocating from Tajikistan to Afghanistan under the protection of the Russian and Tajik military. On May 6, Iranian state radio reported from Dushanbe that the relocation was underway following negotiations... MORE

On May 8, Kyrgyz authorities announced that a court in the city of Osh has sentenced five men to various terms of imprisonment for "terrorism" and conspiracy to create a state of Uighuristan out of territories belonging to China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Three of the... MORE

The political struggle between Russia and Europe's main human rights organization, the Council of Europe, looks set to resume again in Strasbourg today with the start of a meeting of the council's Committee of Ministers. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov is scheduled to take part... MORE

Yesterday Russia celebrated the 55th anniversary of Victory Day, the official holiday marking Nazi Germany's capitulation and the end of World War II. President Vladimir Putin presided over a ceremony on Moscow's Red Square which featured a march by both veterans of the Great Patriotic... MORE

President Putin has identified the strengthening of the state as his first priority. This, he said over the weekend, will include establishing "a more rigid vertical of power" (Itar-Tass, May 6). It is generally assumed that Putin intends to tighten federal control over Russia's self-willed... MORE

On May 5, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze released his long-time associate, Vazha Lortkipanidze, from the post of minister of state, a position equivalent to that of prime minister of the Georgian government. Lortkipanidze was given an honorable discharge, complete with public assurances that the president... MORE

aid to Russia was back in the news last week following a vote by a U.S. House panel which would restrict American assistance to Moscow if Russia fails to close down a Cold War-era listening post in Cuba. The May 4 vote by the House... MORE