Latest Monitor Articles

LUZHKOV OPTIMISTIC ABOUT ALLIANCE WITH ALL RUSSIA.

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said on July 31 that he views former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov as the desired leader of a coalition which would unite his--Luzhkov's--movement Fatherland and All Russia, the regionally based movement whose de facto leader is Tatarstan President Mintimer Shaimiev. Luzhkov... MORE

YELTSIN CALLS FOR BETTER TIES WITH WEST.

The sense that Moscow may be trying, in the aftermath of the Kosovo crisis, to shift to a more balanced policy in the Balkans was suggested by President Boris Yeltsin's call on July 30 for closer relations between Russia and the West. In comments made... MORE

STEPASHIN DOWNPLAYS RUSSIAN AID PACKAGE TO YUGOSLAVIA.

But if Moscow was intent during the July 30 Balkans summit on publicly posturing once again as the defender of Belgrade, it appeared also to be seeking more quietly to mitigate the effects of such rhetoric on its relations with the West. Prime Minister Sergei... MORE

MIXED SIGNALS FROM MOSCOW ON THE BALKANS?

The Kremlin has appeared more and more of late to be struggling with its policy toward the Balkans. Moscow's long pro-Belgrade stance was much in evidence during the July 30 Balkans assistance summit in Sarajevo, where Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin criticized the West for refusing... MORE

BOLDYREV SAYS FOREIGN LOANS “SENSELESSLY SQUANDERED.”

Meanwhile, Yuri Boldyrev, the deputy chairman of the Audit Chamber, the independent Russian government agency established by the parliament to monitor the use of state budgetary funds, said that he was convinced that previous International Monetary Fund credits had been "senselessly squandered." Boldyrev claimed that... MORE

IMF STARTS PAYING OFF RUSSIA’S DEBTS.

The first of seven tranches from the US$4.5 billion loan which the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to lend Russia was transferred yesterday. The installment, worth US$640 million, was used to pay off part of Russia's old debts to the IMF, worth about US$18 billion.... MORE

INTER-TAJIK POLITICAL COMPROMISE HEAVILY FAVORS THE GOVERNMENT.

On July 31, the United Tajik Opposition (UTO) is scheduled to complete its unilateral disarmament, officially described as "integration" of UTO's guerrillas into government forces. The government-opposition joint Attestation Committee has registered some 6,000 UTO guerrillas, approximately 4,500 of whom have opted on an individual... MORE

MARCHUK: STRONG HAND?

The four-star General Yevhen Marchuk, 58, is considered Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma's strongest non-Red rival in the upcoming October presidential elections. Marchuk has cultivated for himself the image of a pragmatic politician who knows how to curb crime and corruption and lead the country toward... MORE

…OR THE FIRINGS OF THE TAX CHIEF AND A DEPUTY KREMLIN ADMINISTRATION HEAD.

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Yakushkin also said today that the Kremlin had "no documents" concerning the firings of Tax Minister Aleksandr Pochinok or deputy Kremlin administration chief Sergei Zverev, which were widely reported yesterday as a fait accompli (Russian agencies, July 30). Various observers attributed Zverev's... MORE