Three Russian republics--Adygeya, Kabardino-Balkaria and Sakha (Yakutia)--held presidential elections on January 13. Winner in the North Caucasus Republic of Adygeya was Khazret Sovmen, head of the Polyus Gold Mining Cooperative, with 68.8 percent of the votes. The leader of the Union of Slavs of Adygeya,... MORE

Citing Turkmenistan's policy of permanent neutrality, President Saparmurat Niazov has rejected Berlin's request to allow German warplanes to use Turkmen airfields. Germany had sought the permission as a major participant in ISAF's (International Security Assistance Force) upcoming operations in Afghanistan. Niazov's decision and its justification... MORE

Observers both inside and outside Russia have been reacting to the decision handed down Friday (January 11) by the Higher Arbitration upholding an order to liquidate the Moscow Independent Broadcasting Corporation (MNVK), the parent company of TV-6, Russia's last major national private television network. Friday's... MORE

While the decision by the Higher Arbitration Court would appear to have sealed TV-6's fate, Boris Berezovsky said in an interview published today that the station's lawyers were studying various possible responses and might appeal Friday's decision in Russia's Constitutional Court. Asked whether the channel... MORE

Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin went on television in Moscow on January 12 to urge his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to oust Russian citizen Igor Smirnov's "gang" from power in Transdniester. Voronin, who goes to Moscow more frequently than any of the CIS country presidents, was... MORE

Last week saw an abortive attempt to compromise the current leader of Ukraine's parliamentary election race, former Premier Viktor Yushchenko. Yushchenko's political rivals attempted to make the most of a published transcript of an intercepted phone conversation between him and Kyiv Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko to... MORE

Prominent Ukrainian politicians and business tycoons from two rival camps have recently had a difficult time fending off allegations of shady arms deals. General Yevhen Marchuk, powerful secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, was the first to find himself under intensive fire over... MORE

Tensions between Russia and the United States on the subject of strategic arms reductions sharpened yesterday as Moscow reacted negatively to reports that Washington plans to store many of the nuclear warheads slated for decommissioning under a recent Russian-U.S. agreement. The Russian reaction came in... MORE

The presidium of the High Arbitration Court today overruled a December 29 decision by the Federal Arbitration Court of the Moscow District that overturned the Moscow Arbitration Court's decision of last November that ordered the liquidation of the Moscow Independent Broadcasting Corporation (MNVK). MNVK is... MORE

In response to a request from Russian law enforcement, Turkey has announced it is ready to turn over Movladi Udugov, the former Chechen foreign minister whom the Russian authorities accuse of being one of the main organizers of the Chechen rebel-led attack on Dagestan in... MORE