The Russian air force continued its bombing of targets in Chechnya yesterday. The military authorities, above all, want to weaken the Chechen guerrillas' financial base, and therefore industrial installations belonging to them have been subject to bombardment. According to Russian intelligence, farms in the Vedeno... MORE

On September 26, a national referendum in Tajikistan resulted in approval of amendments to the country's Soviet-type constitution. Tajikistan thereby becomes the last of the former Union republics to cast aside the Soviet constitutional heritage. The changes pave the way for the formation of a... MORE

As Ukraine's presidential election campaign enters its decisive stage, opponents of President Leonid Kuchma in the Verkhovna Rada have launched a war of "kompromat" (compromising materials) against some key presidential aides. Although the critical mass of Red deputies is behind this move, others have a... MORE

Sergei Shoigu, Russia's Minister of Emergency Situations, will head a new electoral coalition dubbed Yedinstvo (Unity). A statement of support for the new bloc from thirty-one regional leaders was read out during a press conference yesterday, which was attended by, among others, Saratov Governor Dmitri... MORE

Igor Sergeev could very well be made a scapegoat for developments in Chechnya. But the defense minister's ouster, if it comes to pass, could in reality be the result of another division within the High Command that has been boiling under the surface for more... MORE

Among the many consequences of Moscow's war in the Caucasus is a resurgence of rumors that Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeev's days may be numbered. Although denied on September 24 by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (aptly enough, the former spymaster called reports of Sergeev's imminent... MORE

Nezavisimaya gazeta is reporting that the Russian military leadership is considering a plan to send ground troops into Chechnya (see the Monitor, September 27), according to which Russian troops will occupy both the area along the left bank of the Terek River in the breakaway... MORE

Meeting on September 24 in Astana, the prime ministers of the CIS Customs Union member countries--Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan--lamented the organization's failure to stop the decline of intra-CIS trade, let alone boost it. Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin admitted that the CIS in... MORE

A working group of Russia's Foreign Policy and Defense Council has made public in Moscow in recent days a report on Russian-Baltic Relations. The authors include the Council's chairman, Sergei Karaganov, and the senior presidential adviser Sergei Prikhodko. The Council is a private group which... MORE

There was little evidence during Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov's recent stay in the United States that Moscow and Washington had narrowed their differences over the Kosovo peace mission. Ivanov's visit came, in fact, amid reports that the Clinton administration is shifting gears with respect to... MORE