Flush with self-confidence in the wake of his reelection, Belarusan President Alyaksandr Lukashenka threatened in one speech last November to jail "fifteen" state officials and enterprise managers for poor performance and/or corruption. The threat sounded rhetorical and the number did not seem to have been... MORE

Roskomstat released figures for Russian third-quarter GDP growth in late December, showing a year-on-year increase of 4.9 percent. For the first three quarters of 2001 combined, Russian GDP was up 5.0 percent year-on-year. Although that pace is well behind the heady 8.3 percent pace registered... MORE

The October foreign trade balance of US$3.5 billion (calculated by Goskomstat on a balance of payments basis) was the smallest surplus earned since May of 2000. The average balance in the preceding 12 months was US$4.7 billion. While the cumulative trade surplus for the first... 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

Flush with self-confidence in the wake of his reelection, Belarusan President Alyaksandr Lukashenka threatened in one speech last November to jail "fifteen" state officials and enterprises managers for poor performance and/or corruption. The threat sounded rhetorical and the number did not seem to have been... MORE

Roskomstat released figures for Russian third-quarter GDP growth in late December, showing a year-on-year increase of 4.9 percent. For the first three quarters of 2001 combined, Russian GDP was up 5.0 percent year-on-year. Although that pace is well behind the heady 8.3 percent pace registered... MORE

The October foreign trade balance of US$3.5 billion (calculated by Goskomstat on a balance of payments basis) was the smallest surplus earned since May of 2000. The average balance in the preceding 12 months was US$4.7 billion. While the cumulative trade surplus for the first... MORE

With the U.S.-led war against terrorism and issues related to Central Asian geopolitics dominating the January 7 meeting of foreign ministers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), it was perhaps no surprise that Moscow and Beijing chose not to dwell publicly on other issues long... MORE