The long standoff between Russia and the United States over the 1972 ABM treaty appeared to intensify further this week as Russian military leaders engaged in a bit of saber-rattling by test launching a short-range antimissile rocket. The launch, which was carried out at the... MORE

According to data recently released by the national statistical office, Turkmenistan was by far the fastest growing economy in the CIS during the first half of the year (Sotsial'no-ekonomicheskoe Polozhenie Turkmenistana, Yanvar'-Yul' 1999). GDP at mid-year was reported up a stunning 15 percent over mid-1998,... MORE

Ukraine's independent quality television STB, set up in 1997 with the participation of Russia's LUKoil, is sinking under pressure from the current presidential administration. On October 13, STB independent TV founder Volodymyr Sivkovych quit his post as managing board chairman and sold his share in... MORE

The refugee crisis on the administrative border between Chechnya and Ingushetia has led some Russian observers to start worrying about another problem--the apparent lack of government control over the army units operating in that region. Yesterday, Ingushetian President Ruslan Aushev said that he had ordered... MORE

Orban's October 29 remarks would have been condemned by Moscow under any circumstances, but their delivery is especially inauspicious now. Tensions between Russia and NATO remain high in the aftermath of the alliance's air war in Yugoslavia, while Russian-U.S. bilateral relations have grown acrimonious precisely... MORE

Amid worsening recriminations between Russia and the United States on a host of arms control issues, Moscow this week turned its ire on Hungary for suggesting that it might be willing to deploy nuclear weapons on its territory. The object of Moscow's criticism was a... MORE

The October 27 assassination of Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisian, parliament chairman Karen Demirchian and six other officials has left a gaping vacuum in Armenia's leadership. Sarkisian, formally the prime minister, was also in de facto control of the army, the parliamentary majority and most territorial... MORE

The Belarusan Popular Front (BPF), in numbers the strongest opposition force in the country, has removed its veteran leader Zyanon Paznyak after painful internal disputes. At the BPF's congress on October 30-31 in Minsk, more than two-thirds of the delegates voted in favor of deposing... MORE

The scandal surrounding election campaign "agitation" on Russia's major television channels took a new turn today. Two days ago, the Central Election Commission (CEC) filed a complaint against ORT anchor Sergei Dorenko for allegedly violating Russia's election laws by "agitating" against former Prime Minister Yevgeny... MORE

During their meeting yesterday in Oslo, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak appeared to put the question of Russian military technology transfers to Iran back on the diplomatic front burner. The issue of illicit leaks of Russian missile and nuclear... MORE