The State Duma yesterday voted down a motion to ask Russia's Constitutional Court to rule on the legality of the December 31, 1999 decree signed by Vladimir Putin which gave Boris Yeltsin immunity from prosecution following his resignation as Russian president. The motion, which was... MORE

While the State Duma's decision not to challenge Boris Yeltsin's immunity deal has probably precluded further controversy over the issue, at least for the time being, corruption allegations involving some of the ex-president's erstwhile cronies could again come to the fore. Daniel Devaud, an investigator... MORE

Heavy fighting broke out again in southern Chechnya yesterday (March 29), the same day that Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo traveled to the republic to familiarize himself with the situation. According to Russian military officials, a large force headed by field commander Ruslan Gelaev was... MORE

Freedom of the press is a painful issue in Ukraine. Self-censorship and tax pressure on opposition press were cited as the main problems by the U.S. Committee to Protect Journalists last year, when this organization included Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma on its "black list" of... MORE

On March 24, the chairman of the board of directors of the Ukrainian state oil and gas monopoly Naftogaz Ukrainy, Ihor Bakay, announced his resignation--claiming that the West had pressured him to do so. His name, he said, was being used "to blackmail the highest... MORE

In a move which surprised more than a few Russia-watchers, the Kremlin announced yesterday that President-elect Vladimir Putin will apparently retain the services of Defense Minister Igor Sergeev. A Kremlin spokesman said that Putin had decided "some time ago" to extend Sergeev's tenure. A quick... MORE

One of the tasks which President-elect Vladimir Putin has hinted he will undertake--and which a number of observers hope he will make a priority--is to limit or eliminate the political influence of Russia's powerful "oligarchs." There are already signs that the oligarchs themselves and other... MORE

Meanwhile, in an article published in Nezavisimaya gazeta, political scientist Andranik Migranyan, formerly a presidential adviser and a frequent contributor to the paper, predicted--approvingly--that Putin would force the oligarchs out of the corridors of state and governmental power. What was particularly intriguing about Migranyan's article... MORE

Data recently issued by the CIS Statistical Office point out important similarities and differences in the economic performance of CIS countries during the previous decade (Statistika SNG, February 2000). In contrast to such Central European transition economies as Poland and Hungary, none of the CIS... MORE

According to these data, no CIS economy had by 1999 "regained" the output levels achieved in the late 1980s. Total GDP in 1999 had returned to 95 percent of its "pre-transition" level in Uzbekistan, 81 percent in Belarus, 63 percent in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, 60... MORE