The assumption in most quarters now is that Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov's ouster is a done deal. Many say that it could happen this week--shortly before or, more likely, shortly after the State Duma vote on impeachment, which is set to take place on May... MORE

Even the celebration of Victory Day did not put an end to the rampant speculation on Russia's hyperactive political rumor mill. One television channel noted that at yesterday's military parade in Red Square, President Boris Yeltsin did shake Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov's hand, though not... MORE

There was little information available to explain why Viktor Chernomyrdin chose to postpone his visit to Belgrade yesterday and return instead to Moscow. The Russian envoy did tell reporters that some "very serious circumstances" for a possible settlement of the Kosovo conflict had arisen. He... MORE

Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict in Kosovo continued over the weekend, despite NATO's accidental bombing of China's embassy in Belgrade on May 7. Aiming to further those peace efforts, former Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, now serving as the Kremlin's special envoy for the... MORE

Ukrainian National Bank head Viktor Yushchenko's enemies in parliament have failed to persuade the lawmakers to vote no-confidence in him. An ad-hoc parliament commission headed by former Economics Minister Viktor Suslov of the leftist Peasants Party faction accused the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) of... MORE

Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeev's late April visit to Minsk also resulted in finalizing the Russian-Belarusan "blueprint [kontseptsya] for joint military procurement." Russia's Security Council approved that joint document last week; the Russia-Belarus Union's Executive Committee--a bilateral, permanent, high-level intergovernmental body--confirmed it yesterday (Itar-Tass, May... MORE

No one--not even the leader in the Kremlin--can safely expect Belarusan President Alyaksandr Lukashenka to deliver on a done deal. Barely two weeks ago, Lukashenka and his military brass finalized with Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeev a set of seemingly hard-and-fast agreements to create a... MORE

The Federation Council, the upper chamber of Russia's parliament, held the first session of its anticorruption commission, which was recently formed in the wake of the scandals surrounding Yuri Skuratov, whom Boris Yeltsin suspended as Russia's prosecutor general in early April. It is holiday season... MORE

Prior to yesterday's inaugural session of the Federation Council's anticorruption commission, some sources predicted that the Kremlin and Skuratov might find a mutually satisfactory solution to their battle. According to some reports, the commission, which met behind closed doors for more than five hours, discussed... MORE

Despite the G-7-Russian agreement in Germany and his own recent efforts to promote a diplomatic settlement of the Kosovo conflict, Russian President Boris Yeltsin returned yesterday to the Cold War-style rhetoric which has marked most Russian commentary on NATO's air campaign against Yugoslavia. In a... MORE