Latvia's government has fallen amid two unnecessary political scandals: one related to the privatization of industry, the other ostensibly to the sex industry. Prime Minister Andris Skele resigned on April 12--a step which, in accordance with the constitution, automatically entails the resignation of the cabinet... MORE

After some seven years of inaction, Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, appears poised at last to ratify the 1993 START II strategic arms reduction treaty. Reports out of Moscow this week indicate that Russian lawmakers will debate the treaty (for the first... MORE

President-elect Vladimir Putin yesterday appointed Andrei Illarionov, the director of the Institute for Economic Analysis, to the post of presidential adviser. The choice is interesting in that Illarionov is a staunch free-market advocate who, at the same time, is untainted by past policy failures or... MORE

Andrei Illarionov's economic analysis, put crudely, is based on the assumption that the greater the state interferes directly in the economy, the less the economy grows. Thus, ironically, he has been very enthusiastic about certain Asian economies, even asserting that China's communist government played a... MORE

Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin and the newly named Prime Minister of Japan, Yoshiro Mori, agreed earlier this week to meet on April 29 in St. Petersburg. The visit will be Mori's first as prime minister. Japanese officials were quoted as saying that they hope the... MORE

President Eduard Shevardnadze won not simply reelection to another five-year term of office, but the overwhelming political mandate he had sought in the April 9 presidential balloting, defeating his left-wing challenger, Jumber Patiashvili, by a margin of 80 percent to 17 percent. The remainder of... MORE

Europe's diplomatic onslaught against Russia over the Kremlin's bloody war in Chechnya continued this week at the annual UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. Differences over Chechnya remain a complicating factor in efforts by both Russia and the European Union to improve relations and... MORE

The plot thickened in St. Petersburg last week, when Valentina Matvienko announced that she would not, after all, be running for city governor in the election set for May 14. Although Matvienko had not formally announced her candidacy, she was clearly the Kremlin favorite and... MORE

Following his defeat in Russia's March 26 presidential election, Konstantin Titov has resigned from his post as governor of Samara Oblast (Russian agencies, April 4). Titov, who won only some 1.5 percent of the vote, is only the second regional leader to leave his post... MORE

On April 4 and 6, two of Moldovan President Petru Lucinschi's closest associates launched trial balloons suggesting that Moldova might under certain conditions be prepared to grant basing rights to Russian troops in Transdniester (see the Monitor, April 7). Mihai Plamadeala, head of the president's... MORE