The Federation Council appointed its representatives to that commission, among them Vasily Starodubtsev, a member of the junta which led the August 1991 abortive putsch. Starodubtsev is one of several diehard leftists on the commission (Russian agencies, March 12), whose selection reflects the basic consensus... MORE

Only Belarus supported Russia's attempt to have Latvia condemned at yesterday's session of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, which discussed the March 3 disturbance involving Russian residents in Riga. (See Monitor, March 5-6 and March 9-11) Delegates of several European Union member and associated... MORE

While keeping up its political offensive against Latvia, Moscow is broadening the target to include Estonia. First Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov announced yesterday that Russia would "aim to achieve the international isolation of Latvia and Estonia," using Moscow's contacts with Western countries and international... MORE

The Norwegian government yesterday announced that five Russian diplomats have been declared persona non grata. Two of the five are now in Norway and have been ordered to leave the country by Sunday. The three others are currently in Russia. Norwegian government officials also announced... MORE

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady Tarasov told reporters yesterday that Russia has no intention of trying to mediate the current crisis in Kosovo. Tarasov suggested that Moscow's position is based upon its determination that the troubles in Kosovo are an internal problem. He repeated Moscow's... MORE

Russian President Boris Yeltsin has canceled all his engagements for today because of what is described as an acute respiratory infection. (BBC, March 13) Yeltsin's health has been a source of anxiety for some time, though he announced as recently as March 10 that his... MORE

Russia's 1998 federal budget crossed its last hurdle yesterday as the Federation Council, upper house of the Russian parliament, approved the budget by 115 to 22 with four abstentions. (RTR, March 12) All that now remains is for the budget to be signed into law... MORE

The big question, of course, is who stands a chance of winning the presidential election scheduled for 2000. The VTsIOM poll found that Gennady Zyuganov's solid core of support would guarantee him a first or second place in the first round. But in hypothetical second-round... MORE

The latest nationwide poll by Yury Levada's All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) shows that public opinion is still polarized between friends and foes of change -- just as it was at the time of the 1996 presidential election. Apathy and disillusion... MORE

Among the announcements made by Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and U.S. Vice President Al Gore on March 12 was one setting out the creation of a new joint commission of experts to discuss and monitor the export of sensitive nuclear and missile technologies. The... MORE