Observers fixated on Russia's ugly politics are likely to be stunned by the latest official report on 1999 industrial growth. Goskomstat reported today that gross industrial production in September had grown by 20.2 percent over its September 1998 level (Russian, Western press reports, October 15).... MORE

If it is true that Moscow has been more "cooperative" in dealing with Washington, then the Russians are indeed cloaking their negotiating positions well. On October 15 the Russian Foreign Ministry released a strongly worded report warning that U.S. efforts "to break the ABM treaty"... MORE

Arms control issues remained in the headlines over the weekend as Russia again criticized last week's rejection of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) by the U.S. Senate while Moscow and Washington continued to spar over ballistic missile defense and the 1972 ABM treaty. During... MORE

The American-brokered peace negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia are being answered by the Azerbaijani opposition with cries of treason against President Haidar Aliev and calls for a military solution to the Karabakh conflict. Last month, the former president of the country, Abulfaz Elchibey, urged national... MORE

On October 12, a phalanx of some fifty athletic-looking Russians, wielding metal rods, attacked Azerbaijani, Moldovan and Belarusan produce vendors at Moscow's Timiryazev food market. While police stood idly by, the attackers destroyed produce stalls and beat up vendors, some of whom were lying bloodied... MORE

A Chechen resident of the village Mikenskaya, in the Chechnya's Naursk region, shot forty-one ethnic Russians living there, most of them elderly, in revenge for the introduction of Russian troops into the breakaway republic. The inhabitants of the village, who are mostly ethnic Russians, organized... MORE

Former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, who along with Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov heads the Fatherland-All Russia election coalition, said yesterday that corruption in Russia has become a threat to Russia's national security. As with much in Russia, there are twists and takes on this. Primakov,... MORE

A Moscow court today upheld a lower court decision, made in August, declaring the prolonging of a criminal investigation against suspended Prosecutor General Yuri Skuratov by the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office unlawful. The Federation Council--Russia's upper house of parliament--had in midweek refused for a third... MORE

One factor which will apparently not work in Moscow's favor diplomatically, however, is the performance of President Boris Yeltsin. The Russian leader's infirmities and his seeming detachment from government business appear to be leaving Russian relations with some key partners in limbo. Yeltsin's incapacity has... MORE

Russia yesterday joined in the cascade of condemnations emanating from capitals around the world over the U.S. Senate's rejection of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). In Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokesman Vladimir Rakhmanin described the vote as a "serious blow to the entire system of... MORE