Moldovan President Petru Lucinschi's September 1-2 official visit to Moscow has shown that the Kremlin remains unwilling to withdraw the Russian troops unlawfully stationed in Moldova. The Russian government, moreover, seeks to exploit the Transdniester problem in attempting to draw Moldova into a military pact... MORE

While Ukraine's right wing remains fragmented and leaderless, three other presidential candidates--Parliament Chairman Oleksandr Tkachenko, former parliamentary chairman Oleksandr Moroz and former Prime Minister Yevhen Marchuk--have joined forces in view of the upcoming election (see the Monitor, July 23, August 27). In so doing, the... MORE

On September 7, NTV television showed clips from a horrifying videocassette of Chechens committing atrocities against families being held hostage in Chechnya. The clips showed Chechen bandits chopping off the heads of hostages and forcing others to hold out their fingers, which the bandits then... MORE

Igor Bunin, a leading Russian political scientist and consultant, wrote this week that holding parliamentary and presidential elections simultaneously would be an "act of desperation," given that, in his view, Vladimir Putin will in any case be unable to win over more than 10 percent... MORE

This month could prove to be decisive in Russian politics, particularly if one persistent rumor of the last few weeks comes to fact. President Boris Yeltsin--it has been suggested--will step down by September 19, thereby putting Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in place as acting head... MORE

The meeting of the Russia-NATO council in Brussels comes amid signs that Moscow may be willing to resume negotiations with the United States over possible joint measures to address the Y2K computer problem. Last fall Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Bill Clinton reached an agreement which... MORE

Despite ongoing recriminations over developments in Yugoslavia and on a host of other issues, Russia and the West appear in recent days to have moved slowly and warily toward a resumption of talks on several key security problems. The slight easing of tensions in this... MORE

On September 4, Islamic rebels in Kyrgyzstan abandoned without combat four out of the five villages they had controlled in the Batken and Chon-Alai districts of Kyrgyzstan's Osh Region. A part of the rebel force, however, holds on to the strategic Haji-Achkan gorge and village... MORE

It is possible to say without exaggeration that a large-scale civil war has begun in Dagestan. The new phase of the conflict began on the evening of September 4 in the Dagestani city of Buinaksk, when a large explosion killed fifty-two people in an apartment... MORE

Moscow, meanwhile, continued over the weekend to voice sharp criticisms of NATO's peacekeeping performance in the Balkans. During a visit to Georgia, for example, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov called NATO actions in Yugoslavia a "big mistake" and argued that Western efforts there had "not... MORE