On February 18 in Lipetsk Oblast, an event took place that has no precedent in any other region of the Russian Federation. Exactly two months before the region's gubernatorial election, the leaders of the region's two most powerful interest groups--incumbent Governor Oleg Korolev and his... MORE

Character assassination turned literally into death yesterday as Georgia's Security Council Secretary, Nugzar Sajaia, committed suicide with his service weapon. Sajaia, along with other key aides to President Eduard Shevardnadze, had in recent days been targeted for defamation by openly pro-Moscow figures in Georgia. Shevardnadze,... MORE

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov yesterday signed a document redistributing the cabinet's responsibilities and powers. The Interfax news agency, quoting the government's information department, reported that Kasyanov himself would now oversee the activities of the Nuclear Power Ministry, the Property Ministry, the Ministry for Industry,... MORE

A four-month investigation into the tragic loss of the Kursk nuclear submarine concluded last week with the announcement of several preliminary findings that are likely to have generated no small amount of consternation within Russia's naval high command. During a joint press conference given by... MORE

Anti-Communist demonstrators gathered again yesterday in the central square of Moldova's capital city of Chisinau. The majority of the protestors, for the first time, were adults rather than students. Many of them came from the countryside. With estimates in the broad range from "more than... MORE

For more than a month before its March 31 parliamentary (Verkhovna Rada) elections, Ukraine has remained without almost half of its cabinet. The ministers running in the election will enjoy a respite from their work on peremptory advice from President Leonid Kuchma (see the Monitor,... MORE

When Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma "suggested" that state officials running in the March 31 parliamentary elections should take a sabbatical from their official work to campaign, Kyiv Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko promptly complied and requested a vacation. Kuchma, with equal dispatch, on February 11, then sacked... MORE

As Russia's main army holiday fast approaches, the country's defense leadership suddenly faces a political assault on a host of military-related issues. These recent developments suggest that President Vladimir Putin is attempting to force a reluctant senior officer corps to accelerate the pace of a... MORE

Boris Berezovsky has once again said that at the end of February he will make public evidence that the September 1999 bombings of apartment buildings in Moscow, which killed hundreds of people, were carried out by Russia's special services, not, as the Russian authorities have... MORE

In its first foreign policy test, Estonia's new government has decided to ignore a list of Russian demands that claim to defend ethnic minority rights. Moscow's move appears designed to use the ethnic factor for obtaining a stronger Russian political leverage on Estonia. The demands... MORE