The Moscow police announced today that they had detained twenty people so far for involvement in incidents yesterday that have been described by various media as "brawls" and "pogroms" and which left two people dead and twenty-two injured. According to press reports the fighting, which... MORE

On October 28, voters in Orel Oblast re-electedincumbent governor Yegor Stroev to a third term in office. Stroev, who isalso speaker of the upper house of parliament, the Federation Council,received 92 percent of the votes; his three rivals, taken together, garnered some 3 percent (Lenta.ru,... MORE

On October 27, 28 and 29, "unidentified" Russian Sukhoi fighter-bombers and Mi-24 attack helicopters bombed and strafed the Kodori Gorge in Svanetia, northwestern Georgia. They targeted the Georgian side of the Georgian-Abkhaz demarcation line, striking hills adjacent to Svan-inhabited villages that are loyal to Tbilisi.... MORE

Mikhail Prusak, the governor of Novgorod Oblast who was made chairman of the Democratic Party of Russia (DPR) last month, has again proposed doing away with direct elections for the Russian head of state. During a press conference on Friday (October 26) marking his ten... MORE

The Prosecutor General's Office today asked the State Duma to remove the immunity from criminal prosecution enjoyed by parliamentary deputies from Vladimir Golovlyov, a member of the Union of Right-Wing Forces (SPS) and deputy head of the Duma's budget committee. Golovlyov has reportedly been charged... MORE

On October 26-27, some Russian military hardware and soldiers left the Gudauta military base for Russia. In Moscow, Defense Ministry officials hastened to announce that "the process has been completed" and the base "terminated." The officials claimed that Russia has thereby fulfilled its dual obligation... MORE

On October 26, Azerbaijan's National Security Ministry (NSM) announced that it has detained ten individuals, and placed six others on the wanted list, on charges of conspiracy to assassinate President Haidar Aliev and seize power. The accused ringleaders are a former prosecutor of the city... MORE

For Uzbekistan, the military and diplomatic alliance with America is much more than a marriage of convenience. President Islam Karimov aims through this alliance to accomplish fundamental national objectives, long- as well as short-term, to wit: --solidifying independence from Russia, --defeating Islamist terrorism and associated... MORE

Nearly two weeks after it occurred, President Vladimir Putin's October 17 meeting with top-ranking Russian military officials clearly appears to have been an event of some importance with respect both to Russian security policy abroad and to the Kremlin's plans for military reform at home.... MORE

On 24 October, incumbent President Mikhail Nikolaev of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) registered with the local election commission as a candidate in the republic's presidential election (Russian agencies, October 24; see also the Monitor, October 16, 24). Nikolaev is determined to stand for a... MORE