Latest Monitor Articles
CENTER-RIGHT COALITION TO GOVERN MOLDOVA.
The Democratic Convention (DC), the Bloc for a Democratic and Prosperous Moldova (BDPM), and the Party of Democratic Forces (PDF) announced yesterday that they have signed a set of agreements to form a "center-right" governing coalition for the entire four-year term of the newly elected... MORE
KOVALYOV CALLS ATTENTION TO SOVIET-ERA SEQUELS.
Interviewed during a human rights conference in Tallinn, Russian human rights advocate Sergei Kovalyov described as "absurd" the fact that most Russians in the Baltic states ignore the state languages and "did not manage to integrate even after decades of living here." Russia, for its... MORE
A SHIFT AT THE TOP OF UKRAINE’S SECURITY ESTABLISHMENT.
President Leonid Kuchma yesterday released General Volodymyr Radchenko from the post of chairman of Ukraine's Security Service and appointed Leonid Derkach in his place. Derkach has a long record of close association with Kuchma. Born in 1939 in Dnipropetrovsk, Derkach graduated from that city's university... MORE
HELICOPTER ACCOMPANYING STEPASHIN FIRED ON NEAR CHECHEN BORDER.
One of the helicopters accompanying acting Russian Interior Minister Sergei Stepashin came under fire yesterday near the border between Dagestan and Chechnya. The shots came from the Chechen side of the border. It is not known who fired, why or how close the helicopter was... MORE
CHECHNYA HAS NO DESIRE TO ACQUIRE NUCLEAR MATERIALS.
Chechen deputy premier Kazbek Makhashev says his republic has no desire to acquire nuclear materials. He expressed bewilderment at reports in the Western media that the removal of nuclear waste from Georgia (see the Monitor, April 22) might be linked to fears that weapons-grade uranium... MORE
INGUSH PRESIDENT BLAMES RUSSIANS FOR ATTACK ON MILITARY CONVOY.
Ingush President Ruslan Aushev told a press conference on April 21 that, according to information in his possession, last week's attack on a Russian military convoy (see the Monitor, April 17) might have been committed in order to cover up the fact that the unit... MORE
DUMA PASSES REVISED LAND CODE.
Yesterday, Russia's State Duma approved by 263 votes to three what it claims is a land code that includes the revisions called for by President Boris Yeltsin. (Reuters, April 22) Like its predecessor, however, this latest version of the code seeks to prevent the creation... MORE
MOSCOW SNUBS NATO SUPREME COMMANDER.
Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeev yesterday unexpectedly skipped a scheduled meeting with U.S. General Wesley Clark, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander for Europe. Russian General Staff Chief Anatoly Kvashnin, who did meet with Clark, told the visiting NATO delegation that Sergeev was tied up at the... MORE
LEBED FACING MAKE-OR-BREAK ELECTION IN KRASNOYARSK.
Next Sunday's election for governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai in central Siberia is being seen as the first round in the 2000 Russian presidential election. Presidential hopeful Aleksandr Lebed, retired paratroop general and former secretary of Russia's Security Council, is running against a well-respected incumbent, Valery... MORE
JAPANESE PLAN FOR KURILS TO BE CONSIDERED AT MAY MEETING.
As far as Hashimoto's controversial proposal goes, Japanese negotiators will reportedly elaborate on it during a scheduled May 6 meeting of a Russian-Japanese commission tasked with drafting a peace treaty. The commission--headed by deputy foreign ministers from each country--was created during Yeltsin and Hashimoto's first... MORE