The Russian Duma is to meet late this afternoon to decide whether to hold a vote of no-confidence in the government. In a surprise move, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin has raised the stakes by letting it be known that, if the vote goes against his... MORE

A fierce battle is going on between the Moscow city authorities, led by Mayor Yury Luzhkov, and the federal government, in the person of First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Chubais. There has long been personal animosity between the two men but the present dispute also... MORE

Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin told the Consultative Council on Foreign Investors on October 13 that a presidential decree has been prepared giving foreign investors a 50 percent reduction in customs duties on equipment imports. Foreign investors previously enjoyed this tax break, but the Russian... MORE

In a telephone conversation with the Monitor's correspondent this week, Chechen first deputy prime minister Movladi Udugov said that: "On May 12, when the Russian and Chechen presidents signed the treaty 'On Peace and Relations between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria,'... MORE

Four days after President Boris Yeltsin voiced his support for an international convention that would outlaw anti-personnel landmines, Russian newspapers yesterday were full of arguments as to why Russia should not make such a commitment any time soon. Writers in Izvestia suggested that Yeltsin's announcement... MORE

Russian interior minister Anatoly Kulikov yesterday criticized a report recently published in the U.S. for exaggerating the danger posed by Russian organized crime groups to U.S. national interests. Kulikov disparaged the report's conclusion that foreign entrepreneurs and investors cannot be protected in Russia. He also... MORE

The Latvian parliament's human rights commission yesterday examined and rejected a wide range of proposals to grant citizenship to certain categories of Soviet-era settlers. Russian groups in Latvia, together with the OSCE and other organizations, had all forwarded such proposals to the committee, while President... MORE

Azerbaijan's State Oil Company chairman, Natig Aliev, has ruled out the oil swap proposed by Moscow in the event that the Chechen section of the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline is not repaired in time to handle "early" oil from Azerbaijan. In that case, Moscow is proposing that... MORE

There are unconfirmed reports from Moscow that Chechen presidential spokesman Kazbek Khadzhiev was abducted in Grozny yesterday. Also reported missing in Grozny this week are the chief editor of Chechnya's state-controlled Ichkeria television channel and the chief accountant of the Russian Pension Fund in Chechnya,... MORE

Oleg Shevtsov, the director of the Russian Tolyatti equipment plant and a member of the board of directors of the giant AvtoVAZ auto factory, was gunned down on October 10. Police are investigating reports that he was being threatened by persons trying to force the... MORE