Movement for the Neutrality of Latvia" surfaced yesterday in Riga with a sizeable picket in front of the Council of Ministers building. Parliamentary deputies of the leftist, mostly Russian grouping "For Human Rights in a United Latvia" had requested the permit for the picket and... MORE

It was generally expected that after the sudden death of Rukh's long-time leader, Vyacheslav Chornovil, on March 25, the party--which split a month ago--would reunify on the basis of the objectively stronger group, led by former Environment Minister Yury Kostenko. On March 30, however, the... MORE

Participants in the March 26 seminar held in Washington which focused on the Russian presidential elections scheduled for 2000 also discussed those contenders with far slimmer chances of success. Jacob Kipp, an analyst for the U.S. Army, argued that Aleksandr Lebed is, first and foremost,... MORE

On March 26, in Washington, American specialists gathered to review the platforms and prospects of the leading contenders for the June 2000 presidential race. The event--the George W. Hoffman Memorial Seminar--was organized by George Washington University, and attended by a Monitor correspondent. All in all,... MORE

First Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Maslyukov announced yesterday, first, that a mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will arrive in Moscow at the beginning of next week and, second, that sometime around April 20, the IMF, Russia's Central Bank and government will sign a... MORE

Tensions involving the Balkans erupted in Russia's State Duma yesterday. Several deputies from nationalist and leftist factions denounced the peacekeeping efforts of three leaders from the center-right coalition Just Cause--Yegor Gaidar, Boris Federov and Boris Nemtsov--who yesterday met briefly with Pope John Paul II in... MORE

A hitherto-unknown group--calling itself the "Skif" special forces--has claimed responsibility for the abortive March 28 attempt on the U.S. embassy in Moscow. The group, claiming to be part of a guerrilla unit named after Metropolitan Ioann of St. Petersburg and Ladozh (the late Russian Orthodox... MORE

Yesterday's developments appeared to belie the spirit, if not the letter, of Russian President Boris Yeltsin's state of the nation speech a day earlier. While criticizing the NATO strikes on Yugoslavia, Yeltsin nevertheless went out of his way to indicate that Moscow would neither get... MORE

A day after Russian President Boris Yeltsin indicated that Moscow would forego any military response to NATO air strikes on Yugoslavia, the Russian Defense Ministry yesterday said that it was sending at least one--and possibly as many as seven--navy vessels to the Mediterranean to monitor... MORE

Tajik Socialist Party leader Safarali Kenjaev was assassinated yesterday in broad daylight in the capital city of Dushanbe. At least one of his bodyguards was also killed by the unidentified gunmen, who absconded without difficulty. The attack conformed to a pattern which highlights the ineffectiveness... MORE