Kazakhstan's Central Electoral Commission announced on October 17 the returns of the first round of the parliamentary elections (held on October 10). Leftist parties, capitalizing on the country's economic predicament--which largely stems from external factors--seemed well placed for a strong performance in these elections. For... MORE

The chief prosecutors from the Group of Seven industrialized countries, including U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, are in Moscow for a two-day conference to discuss the issues of organized crime and terrorism. The Russian delegation, led by Vladimir Ustinov, includes Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo and... MORE

Sergei Mikhailov, a controversial candidate dropped from the Zhirinovsky Bloc list, was nonetheless registered with the Central Election Commission (CEC) yesterday. One of two candidates to single-mandate districts put forward by something calling itself the Conservative Movement of Russia, Mikhailov is known in some circles... MORE

Russia's Central Elections Commission (CEC) yesterday registered the Zhirinovsky Bloc for participation in Russia's parliamentary elections, scheduled for December. Ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky had hastily cobbled together the new bloc last week, after the Commission refused to register his Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR)... MORE

The Russian government will apparently not use the recent change of leadership at NATO headquarters in Brussels as an opportunity to improve long-strained relations with the Western alliance. Former British Defense Secretary George Robertson officially assumed the post of NATO Secretary General on October 14.... MORE

On October 13, well-armed gunmen kidnapped seven members of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) in the Kodori Gorge, a remote mountainous area situated in Abkhazia but controlled--at least nominally if not effectively--by Tbilisi. The UNOMIG group included a Swede, a German, a... MORE

At least 20,000 Belarusans demonstrated in Minsk yesterday against unification with Russia and for free parliamentary and presidential elections. Carrying Belarusan national flags--a forbidden symbol in Belarus, where a Soviet-type flag has been reimposed--participants set alight copies of the draft treaty of union with Russia... MORE

The federal forces command in Chechnya have officially announced that they have completed the first step in creating a security zone in Chechnya. Russian troops now occupy the entire section of Chechnya north of the Terek River. Russian military officials have indicated that it remains... MORE

Putin's rising popularity rating in the polls is clearly correlated with his tough line on Chechnya. Even if the poll results are being deliberately skewed to some degree--as part of a Kremlin strategy to create a self-fulfilling prophecy, as apparently the case during the 1996... MORE

Recent data indicate that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's political star is rising rapidly. According to the results of a presidential preference poll commissioned by Russian Public Television (ORT), Putin and former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov top the list, each man with 18 percent. The channel... MORE