The anticommunist mass protests in downtown Chisinau, staged daily since January 9, appear to be running out of steam. Following the peak on February 24, when crowd size estimates ranged from 40,000 to 100,000 (see the Monitor, February 25), the daily attendance has plummeted to... MORE

A lengthy article published in a Russian newspaper over the weekend is sure to fuel further speculation that Russian President Vladimir Putin may be planning a shake-up of the country's military leadership, and that the man Putin hand-picked last year to fill the defense minister's... MORE

A bill on amending the constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan was adopted in the first reading on February 28 by Tatarstan's parliament, the State Council. After public discussion, the bill will be submitted to parliament for further consideration on March 29. The new version... MORE

Last week Alfred Kokh was elected to represent Leningrad Oblast in the Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament. Kokh, one of the most controversial Russian politicians, is chairman of the board of the Montes Auri investment fund. He served as a deputy... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signaled an end to the storm of recriminations with which Moscow had initially met Washington's decision to supply and train Georgian counterterrorist forces. Thus far, the sequence of moves in Moscow with regard to the U.S.-Georgia situation closely resembles Moscow's... MORE

The Press Ministry's auction for the broadcasting license of TV-6, the national television channel majority owned by Boris Berezovsky that was taken off the air in January, will be held at the end of this month. But it may already be possible to identify the... MORE

The presidents of CIS member countries held what was billed an "informal summit" on February 28-March 1 in Kazakhstan. The Kremlin chose the ski resort Chimbulak, high above Almaty, as the main scene of this summit. The event was staged as a winter counterpart--the first... MORE

Russia's seemingly never-ending internal debate about the pros and cons of creating a mostly volunteer "professional" army has in recent days begun to heat up again. The leadup to Russia's annual February 23 Army Day holiday provided one reason for military and civilian experts to... MORE

Boris Berezovsky and Russia's law enforcement agencies continued their tit-for-tat battle yesterday. The press service of the Liberal Russia movement, which Berezovsky belongs to and finances, announced that on March 5 in London the tycoon will finally make public the evidence he claims to have... MORE

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the U.S. government-funded radio station, has postponed its plans for broadcasting in three North Caucasian languages, including Chechen. The broadcasts, which were scheduled to have begun yesterday (February 28), were postponed at the request of the U.S. State Department (AP, February... MORE