On June 24, the unrecognized Karabakh republic's president Arkady Gukasian dismissed prime minister Jirair Poghosian, provisorily took over that post and announced his intention to appoint a new government. Gukasian cited flaws in the Poghosian government's performance as the grounds for changing it. This is... MORE

At its June 24 session, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) stopped short of approving the Monitoring Committee proposal to suspend Ukraine's membership in the Council of Europe (CE). Ukraine would have become the first country ever to have its membership suspended... MORE

Another terrorist bombing took place in the North Ossetian capital of Vladikavkaz on June 28. An antipersonnel mine was detonated at the city's railway station, and eleven people were wounded. Investigators are certain that the bombing was the work of Chechen rebel field commander Khattab... MORE

It is not clear whether Yeltsin has a legal basis to ban the Communist Party (KPRF) and, even if he does, whether it would make sense, even from his point of view. The Justice Ministry, in fact, said earlier this year that it had found... MORE

Russia's political players and observers have been mulling over President Boris Yeltsin's upbraiding of Justice Minister Pavel Krasheninnikov yesterday, whom he criticized for not having provided him with data he requested concerning "constitutional violations" by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) (see the... MORE

Yesterday's developments in Moscow came a day after Russian Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin signed a decree allocating responsibilities for the Kosovo mission among government ministries (Russian agencies, June 28). Stepashin's decree appeared to end the formal procedures required by Russia to send troops to the... MORE

After months of often frenetic activity connected to developments in the Balkans, yesterday was a quiet day--at least in terms of headlines--for Russian officials dealing with the Kosovo peace mission. The most noteworthy event was an address delivered in Moscow by Russian Foreign Minister Igor... MORE

On June 28, the day Ukraine celebrated three years of its constitution, President Leonid Kuchma lost the authority to release decrees on economic issues virtually unrestrained by the parliament. Yesterday, a transitional provision of the constitution of 1996, which allowed the president to issue such... MORE

An equally critical message ensued from former foreign minister Hennady Udovenko, a key figure in setting Kyiv's policy on a pro-Western course, currently a presidential aspirant and leader of one of the two wings of the national-democratic Rukh. Addressing an international conference in Berlin, organized... MORE

On June 27 in Warsaw, addressing a high-level forum on "Central and Eastern Europe on the Road to the European Union," Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk expressed disappointment with the attitude of the European Union (EU) and its individual member countries... MORE