While the Kremlin's ultimatum to Chechen fighters located in the Chechen capital of Djohar expires tomorrow, the evacuation of inhabitants of the capital via a corridor set up by the Russian forces has hardly begun. As of Wednesday, only several people had left Djohar along... MORE

Amid the general worsening of Russian-U.S. relations, ratification of the START II strategic arms reduction treaty made a surprise appearance on the Russian State Duma's discussion agenda this week following a lobbying effort by government officials. According to reports out of Moscow, the day before... MORE

Yeltsin's saber-rattling in Beijing came as a Russian-U.S. spy wrangle deepened. The row had begun on November 29 when Russian authorities detained Cheri Leberknight, second secretary of the U.S. Embassy's political section, on espionage charges. Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) spokesmen said that Leberknight had... MORE

A decade which opened with increasingly warm ties between Moscow and the West appears to be closing in an atmosphere more reminiscent of the preceding Cold War era. This, at least, was the impression generated yesterday by the confluence of three events which reflect the... MORE

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma signed a decree on December 3 on the acceleration of reforms in agriculture, which promises market revolution in the countryside. It effectively introduces private property of land and launches the disbanding of collective farms--a left-over of the Soviet economic system and... MORE

Billed in advance as his "first visit abroad as reelected president of Ukraine," Leonid Kuchma's visit to Moscow turned out to be only a brief stopover en route to Western destinations, where Kuchma seeks tangible political, economic and security support for Ukraine. On December 6... MORE

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, re-elected to a second five-year term on November 14, delivered his inauguration address on November 30 to a television audience and the numerous foreign guests gathered in the luxurious Ukraina Palace in Kyiv. Expected to pledge his dedication to democracy and... MORE

President Alyaksandr Lukashenka signed yesterday with his Russian counterpart Boris Yeltsin in Moscow a treaty on "creating a union state" and an accompanying action program to implement the treaty (see the Monitor, December 8). The two presidents agreed orally to sign in short order a... MORE

Yesterday federal forces backed by members of the militia headed by Bislan Gantemirov, the former mayor of Grozny (the Chechen capital, now called Djohar), occupied the town of Urus-Martan, the main center of resistance in western Chechnya (Russian agencies, December 8). The taking of Urus-Martan... MORE

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the current negotiations is the Russian side's apparent interest in a quick agreement. The first negotiations on rescheduling Russia's Soviet-era debts--which lasted from 1992 to 1997--did not really get off the ground until after 1995, when Russian inflation rates... MORE