Vladimir Ustinov, Russia's acting prosecutor general, is scheduled to travel to Chechnya today to look into the arrest of Radio Liberty correspondent Andrei Babitsky. On January 31, Russian media quoted Ustinov as saying that Babitsky would remain in custody for another week, but the Prosecutor... MORE

Russia's Acting President Vladimir Putin threw allied Armenia into disarray at the recent summit of the CIS (see the Monitor, January 26, 28). Putin came down strongly on the side of the principle of territorial integrity of states, as opposed to the principle of national... MORE

Diplomatic jousting between Russia and the world community over the Kremlin's crackdown in Chechnya continued in Moscow late last week as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan wound up a three-day visit to the Russian capital. Annan reportedly discussed a wide array of international issues with... MORE

Moscow's ambiguity on the subject of humanitarian intervention was apparently evident once again during Annan's visit. Russian officials have appeared willing to give some backing to the concept--as long as acting on it is kept solely in the hands of the UN Security Council--apparently because... MORE

Reports that Russian forces had arrested Radio Liberty correspondent Andrei Babitsky in Chechnya were confirmed over the weekend. A spokesman for the Russian Interior Ministry reported on January 28 that Babitsky had been detained on January 23 at a checkpoint while trying to leave the... MORE

Two Kremlin insiders under investigation for corruption have accused a rival oligarch of being behind the charges against them. Pavel Borodin, the former Kremlin property manager who was recently named state secretary of the Russia-Belarus union, suggested on January 28 that accusations that he had... MORE

Speaking on January 24 in Tallinn, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott went further than any United States official has publicly done thus far in reassuring the three Baltic states that they are eligible to join NATO and that Russia will not influence the... MORE

George Robertson, NATO's secretary general, conferred on January 27-28 with President Leonid Kuchma and other leaders in Kyiv on ways to expand Ukraine's cooperation with the alliance under the Charter for Distinctive Partnership. Robertson makes this visit three months after his appointment to the top... MORE

The Russian government yesterday found itself buffeted by international criticism from all sides over its bloody war in Chechnya. But, in diplomatic terms at least, it emerged still largely unscathed. What was perhaps most remarkable, however, was that Russian leaders not only remained defiant, but... MORE

If PACE members thought that the Russian delegation might be contrite or thankful yesterday after its scrape with suspension, they were mistaken. Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov expressed satisfaction with the PACE vote results. He nonetheless repeated accusations that the organization harbors biases against Russia, telling... MORE