Washington's latest condemnations of Russia's Chechen campaign came as criticism of Moscow continued to mount elsewhere around the globe as well. On November 6, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook telephoned his Russia counterpart, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, to reiterate London's concern over the worsening plight... MORE

The United States yesterday upped the ante in its weeks-long diplomatic effort to bring a halt to Russia's military crackdown in Chechnya. In a statement to reporters, U.S. State Department spokesman James Rubin accused Moscow of failing to meet human rights standards set out in... MORE

Slain Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisian's brother, Aram Sarkisian, was nominated for the same post by President Robert Kocharian on November 3, seven days after the bloodbath in the Armenian parliament. The Defense Ministry and the Unity [Miasnutiun] parliamentary bloc--creations and power base of Vazgen Sarkisian--foisted... MORE

The first round of Ukraine's presidential election on October 31 produced--as predicted (see the Monitor, October 22, 29)--an aggregate Red vote substantially exceeding that cast for President Leonid Kuchma and catapulted the Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko to the runner-up position, leading to a Kuchma-Symonenko... MORE

Last week saw the close of registration for parties and individual candidates running in the election for the State Duma, set for December 19. Half of the Duma's 450 seats are set aside for the winning parties, the other half for the winners of contests... MORE

The power struggle among Russia's rival political-financial groups appears to be reaching new heights of Byzantine intrigue, with the Chechen conflict lying at the center of the latest round of charges and countercharges. Moskovsky komsomolets--a newspaper which generally supports Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and has... MORE

Diplomats in Vienna had hoped to wrap up the negotiations on the "adapted" Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty at the end of last week but clearly failed to do so. The signing of the new treaty was to have been one of the highlights... MORE

Tajikistan is moving headlong toward a one-man presidential race, and President Imomali Rahmonov toward preprogrammed reelection on November 6. Rahmonov, the Supreme Court and the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) have failed in their joint efforts to dragoon the Islamic Rebirth Party's candidate, Dovlat Usmon, back... MORE

The defense ministries of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan conducted a joint command-and-staff exercise--"Commonwealth Southern Shield-99"--from October 27 to November 2 on Kyrgyz territory. Russia's Lieutenant-General Leonid Maltsev, first deputy chief of the CIS Military Cooperation Staff, commanded the exercise, officially if gratuitously billed... MORE

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman yesterday said that Beijing also lacked details about the Russian test and could not confirm that it had taken place. But she placed the blame for the reported Russian exercise squarely on the United States, suggesting that U.S. missile defense... MORE