Knut Vollebaek, acting chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and Norway's foreign minister, began his visit to the North Caucasus yesterday. He has called on the Russian authorities to call a ceasefire in their military campaign in Chechnya and insists... MORE

Putin attended yesterday's missile test together with Defense Minister Marshal Igor Sergeev and strategic missile forces commander General Vladimir Yakovlev. The test, which was said to have been successful, involved the launching of a Topol-M ICBM from the military testing grounds in Plesetsk, in the... MORE

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin departed from a foray along the rarely traveled high road of Russian diplomacy yesterday when he launched a Cold War-era style attack on the West for opposing Moscow's war in Chechnya. The tone of Putin's remarks differed little from the... MORE

On December 9, the Latvian parliament adopted the final version of the law on the state language, incorporating changes which had been sought by the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Council of Europe and-- pro forma at least--by... MORE

The suspension of IMF lending could have important longer-term economic implications, for both Russia and the international community. For one thing, tensions between Russia and the G7 countries are currently at a height not seen since Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the USSR in... MORE

Political tensions between Moscow and G7 governments over the Russian military campaign in Chechnya have effectively suspended IMF lending to Russia (Washington Post, December 4; Reuters, December 8, 10). This de facto suspension is unlikely to have a short-run effect on the Russian economy. The... MORE

A demonstration in support of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov is set to begin today at 5 PM, Moscow time, near Red Square, where some 100,000 people--according to the organizers of the rally, the Moscow Federation of Trade Unions--are expected to show up. In the words... MORE

A Russian Su-25 jet crashed over southern Chechnya yesterday due, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, to technical failure. The pilot ejected, and Russian forces have mounted a search and rescue operation for him. Chechen sources report that the pilot was found by Chechen forces... MORE

A major component of last week's Beijing talks between Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin were discussions related more broadly to national sovereignty and territorial integrity issues. The resulting joint statement warned against "the replacing of international law with power politics and... MORE

Aside from President Boris Yeltsin's bumptious saber-rattling (see the Monitor, December 10), last week's December 9-10 Russian-Chinese summit meeting in Beijing produced few surprises. Indeed, the informal affair, which included several meetings between Yeltsin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin, epitomized the strengths and weaknesses of... MORE