Some Russian media are coming into conflict with the government over the issue of casualty figures. On January 23, NTV television, the flagship of Vladimir Gusinsky's Media-Most empire, reported on its weekly news analysis program "Itogi" that the real number of Russian soldiers being killed... MORE

Departing yesterday for the CIS summit in Moscow, President Eduard Shevardnadze formulated the following axiom of Georgia's foreign policy: "Preservation of good-neighborly relations with Russia and the development of partnership relations with NATO are equally legitimate and logical." Georgia is, in fact, actively pursuing these... MORE

Like other CIS countries, Georgia shows signs of shaking off the economic slump which followed the August 1998 Russian financial crisis. But while neighboring Armenia and Azerbaijan reported GDP growth in the 6-7 percent range during the first three quarters of 1999, Georgia is something... MORE

To return to pre-August 1998 growth rates, Georgia must attract greater foreign investment. Unfortunately, Georgia's relations with the IMF and World Bank deteriorated last year, as Tbilisi failed to meet targets for improved tax collection and other structural indicators. The World Bank froze US$33 million... MORE

As expected, a major spy row between Russia and Poland escalated over the weekend when the Russian government announced on January 21 that it was expelling nine Polish diplomats for "activities inconsistent with their status." The number of Poles declared persona non grata matched the... MORE

The Polish government did some lashing out of its own this weekend, warning Moscow that its retaliatory move will create "unnecessary tensions" between Russia and Poland, placing responsibility for this threat to bilateral relations squarely on Russia. Polish Defense Minister Janusz Onyszkiewicz, meanwhile, told reporters... MORE

Acting President Vladimir Putin finally spoke publicly about the continuing crisis in the State Duma, which arose after the two largest groups in the recently-elected legislature, the pro-Kremlin Unity faction and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), cut a deal to re-elect the... MORE

Over the weekend, leaders of the three rebellious State Duma factions continued their sharp criticism of both the Unity-KPRF alliance and acting President Vladimir Putin's purported role in it. On January 22, Boris Nemtsov, one of SPS' founders, said that Putin was "not an independent... MORE

Two Western newspapers reported on January 21 that Russian police last week raided the Moscow apartment of journalist Aleksandr Khinshtein in an attempt to take him to a psychiatric clinic in the city of Vladimir, a facility allegedly controlled by Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo. Khinshtein... MORE

Russia's acting and prospective president Vladimir Putin may not be about to subsidize the economy of Belarus (see the Monitor, January 17), but he has quickly moved to back its ruler, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, politically. Putin's deal with the Communists in the Russian Duma, moreover, seems... MORE