The issue of anti-Semitism has again raised the temperature of Russian politics. Yesterday, Russian government officials and politicians from various parties condemned an anti-Semitic remark made the previous day by Viktor Ilyukhin, the radical communist who heads the State Duma's security committee. On December 15,... MORE

The United States yesterday bluntly warned Moscow that continued cooperation with Iran could lead to U.S. sanctions against Russian nuclear energy entities and might also jeopardize lucrative space launch contracts. The warning, announced by State Department spokesman James Rubin, came a week after a U.S.... MORE

Russian diplomats last night harshly criticized yesterday's launching of air attacks on Iraq by U.S. and British forces. In a statement issued by Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov during a visit to Madrid, Moscow condemned the air strikes as a breach of the UN charter and... MORE

S and Turkish officials yesterday confirmed Ankara's commitment to the planned trans-Caspian gas pipeline which would connect Turkmenistan with Turkey via Azerbaijan and Georgia. Turkey's Energy Minister Cumhur Ersumer and Energy Undersecretary Yurdakul Yigitguden, who directly handles Caspian energy issues, reaffirmed that the trans-Caspian gas... MORE

The European Union's cave-in to the Belarusan authorities in the Drazdy diplomatic dispute (see the Monitor, December 11) has dismayed the democratic opposition. According to a statement of the Belarusan Popular Front, the EU's concession is "groundless and untimely" against a background of growing social... MORE

On December 15, a Baku court found fined the newspapers "Azadlyg" and "Yeni Musavat" guilty of defamation of President Haidar Aliev. Azadlyg is the organ of the Popular Front and Yeni Musavat the organ of the Musavat Party. The court fined the two papers 200... MORE

Speaking to a gathering of regional media editors on Tuesday (December 15), Leonid Kuchma did not miss an opportunity to attack the lawmakers, which is already a "tradition" of his public speeches. Commenting on the Swiss arrest of the former premier and member of parliament,... MORE

Chechnya's parliament held an urgent special session Monday (December 14) at which it rejected President Aslan Maskhadov's decree on a partial mobilization of reservists (see the Monitor, December 14). The parliament declared that the presidential decree violated the republic's constitution, which says that a mobilization... MORE

In the aftermath of the Duma's decision yesterday to postpone debate on START II, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Maslyukov launched another strongly worded plea for Duma members to move forward on the treaty. Maslyukov, who has emerged as one of the government's pointmen... MORE

The Russian State Duma yesterday once again put off discussion of the START II ratification bill, as the Communist Party faction announced that it would not be prepared to discuss the document until at least later this week. The postponement--one of several in recent weeks--comes... MORE