Chechnya appears to be approaching the brink of war. On Saturday in Djohar (formerly Grozny), the All-National Congress of the Chechen People (OKChN) was reactivated during a mass meeting of the Chechen people organized by the opposition. Among the revived congress's demands was the resignation... MORE

Russian intelligence officials yesterday criticized the FBI for what they said were "provocative methods" used by the U.S. counterintelligence agency to secure the arrest of David Boone, a 46-year-old former employee of the U.S. National Security Agency. Boone was charged earlier this week with selling... MORE

Russian Foreign Minister Ivanov, together with Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, suggested that the agreement hammered out by U.S. Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic earlier this week had all but foreclosed any possibility of NATO air strikes on Yugoslavia (Itar-Tass, October 14).... MORE

The economic crisis has hit Russia's already-fragile small-business sector especially hard, with more and more small businesses being driven into the underground economy. Ivan Grachev, leader of the "Development of Entrepreneurship" social-political movement, told Moskovskie novosti that around 15 percent of legally registered small businesses... MORE

The Russian government yesterday claimed a diplomatic victory in the Balkans, adding that NATO's decision to hold off on air strikes against Yugoslavia proved that Russia remains a great power and a force to be reckoned with on the world stage. In remarks made to... MORE

On Wednesday, Federation Council Speaker Yegor Stroev urged Prime Minister Primakov to set up a commission to look into why the government and the Central Bank decided to devalue the ruble and freeze domestic debt payments last August 17. Stroev said the Federation Council should... MORE

During a speech Wednesday to the upper chamber of Russia's parliament, the Federation Council, Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov lashed out at how privatization has been carried out in Russia. Primakov said his government had postponed sales of stakes in both the state oil company Rosneft... MORE

From Uzbekistan, an ailing Yeltsin proceeded to Kazakhstan for his first-ever state visit to that country. Repeatedly postponed and rescheduled, the eagerly awaited visit had to be cut short because of Yeltsin's medical condition (see the Monitor, October 12, 13). The agenda of Yeltsin's talks... MORE

On October 12 in Tashkent Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Islam Karimov signed a "Declaration of all-round cooperation" among Russia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, envisaging military and security cooperation up to mutual assistance in regional conflicts. Tajik President Imomali Rahmonov, who figures as a subject but is... MORE

According to the joint monitoring mission of OSCE's Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (CEPA), Azerbaijan's presidential election represented a "marked advance in democracy-building," but was marred by serious violations of the electoral law.... MORE