The Russian military command in Chechnya has threatened to ask the Kremlin to rescind its accreditation of Anna Politkovskaya, correspondent for the biweekly newspaper Novaya Gazeta, that allows her to report from the breakaway republic. According to "the press center of the regional operational staff... MORE

In an address today to the collegium of the Prosecutor General's Office, President Vladimir Putin said that the crime situation in Russia remains "serious." Some 3 million crimes were registered in Russia last year, he said, and the proportion of serious and especially serious crimes... MORE

A British eyewitness account has helped expose an official cover-up of the latest high-profile murder in Yerevan. The eyewitness, fearing for his safety in Armenia if he spoke up, waited until his return to Britain before providing his account. Last September 24, President Robert Kocharian's... MORE

The Party of Communists of Kyrgyzstan and the Islamic fundamentalist underground movement Hezb-e Tahrir have, each for its own reasons, come out against the deployment of American and other Western forces in Kyrgyzstan. The pro-Moscow Communist Party has taken that position after some hesitation. Last... MORE

Ukraine's parliamentary race is now officially underway, effective February 9. By January 30, the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) had received both party-bloc and individual applications, the first to compete for 225 seats in the nationwide proportional constituency, and the second to vie for another 225... MORE

Ukrainian prosecutors have come up with the gravest charges thus far against embattled former Ukrainian Premier Pavlo Lazarenko (1996-1997). On February 7, the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) charged Lazarenko with commissioning the assassinations of two influential politicians--Yevhen Shcherban in 1996 and Vadym Hetman in 1998.... MORE

Relations between Russia and the United States continued along their bumpy course this week, as the two countries appeared to narrow their differences on a strategic arms reductions agreement and at the same time clash over fresh accusations by Washington that Moscow remains a major... MORE

A helicopter involved in a search for an Mi-24 helicopter gunship that crashed in Chechnya on February 3 itself crashed yesterday. The chopper, an Mi-8, crashed and exploded just minutes after taking from the airfield at Khankala, the main Russian military base in Chechnya, which... MORE

The latest Russian-Georgian consultations on military issues, and accompanying Russian gestures, evidence an intention to test Western seriousness about supporting Georgia's independence. At the moment, Moscow is not only breaching its international obligations with respect to Georgia, but also apparently expecting the West to tolerate... MORE

The Kyrgyz government and key parliamentary commissions have given the go-ahead to France to deploy forces in Kyrgyzstan, without waiting for the parliament to ratify first the intergovernmental French-Kyrgyz agreement. This week, almost 200 French troops set up camp at the Manas airport outside Bishkek,... MORE