Prosecutors in both Moscow and the Rostov region are investigating anti-Semitic comments recently made by Albert Makashov--former Soviet general, current State Duma deputy and hardline member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF). The investigators will determine whether Makashov violated laws against inciting... MORE

Yesterday's developments came as Russian political and military figures continued to heap criticism on the United States and NATO for their threats to launch strikes against Yugoslavia if it failed to acquiesce to the Contact Group peace plan. A series of offensive remarks by Communist... MORE

Russian leaders and their Serb counterparts joined yesterday to hail the results of negotiations between representatives of the Serbian government and ethnic Albanian rebels. The Rambouillet talks, which were overseen by the six-nation Contact Group, recessed on February 23 following acceptance of a partial agreement... MORE

President Islam Karimov announced yesterday that the authorities have arrested thirty members of Islamic groups as potential suspects in the February 16 terrorist attacks in Tashkent. The six bomb attacks killed fifteen people and wounded more than 100, barely missing Karimov and the cabinet of... MORE

In parallel statements during the last few days, Transdniester leader Igor Smirnov and Supreme Soviet chairman Grigory Marakutsa have offered to settle the dispute with the central Moldovan government if the latter reverses its pro-Western course. "Moldova's reorientation from West to East would remove all... MORE

The Georgian parliament's committee for defense and national security came out yesterday in favor of asking NATO to "protect Georgia's security and independence." "All European countries, except Russia and Belarus, aspire to integrate with NATO," committee chairman Revaz Adamia said while explaining the committee's recommendation... MORE

Members of the radical wing of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation have made it clear that they have no regrets over the various anti-Semitic remarks they made last year. On February 22, while addressing a meeting of Cossacks in Novocherkassk, in the southern... MORE

Various Russian and Western news sources reported last week that Moscow has unilaterally suspended a 1997 agreement with Britain on joint naval exercises. The navies of the two countries had already held two sets of joint maneuvers as part of the 1997 agreement, and reportedly... MORE

Krasnoyarsk Governor Aleksandr Lebed's search for allies in his battle with local "oligarch" Anatoly Bykov has not fared well. On February 15 Lebed reached an agreement with Anatoly Chubais--head of United Energy Systems (UES), Russia's state electricity monopoly--that UES would extend Krasugol, the Krasnoyarsk region's... MORE

Ivanov's trip to Japan was also conducted with an eye toward accommodating regional politicians in Russia's Far East who feel their interests may be threatened by Russian-Japanese negotiations on the disputed Kuril Islands. The Russian minister stopped off en route to Japan on February 20... MORE