With the death of Aleksandr Lebed, the battle for the governorship of Krasnoyarsk Krai has de facto begun. While the date for new elections has not yet been set, the region's main political forces have shown themselves ready to join the fray. As observers in... MORE

The Republic of Karelia held elections on April 28 for all the branches of its government. Sergei Katanandov, who earlier served as the republic's head, was elected its chief executive. He won with 53.4 percent of the vote, obviating a second round runoff (Russian agencies,... MORE

The failed Caspian summit, recently held in Ashgabat (see the Monitor, April 30) has confirmed, and in some ways highlighted, the differences among the five countries over legal and security issues. Politically, the dividing line runs between the countries interested in accelerating the development of... MORE

True to its reputation for erratic behavior, Turkmenistan--that is, President Saparmurat Niazov--is staking out positions that irritate other Caspian countries in one way or another. Turkmenistan proposes dividing the Caspian Sea into national sectors, placing not only the seabed but also the waters and airspace... MORE

According to Japanese news accounts, the well-publicized corruption scandals ripping apart the government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi have also had a devastating effect on Japanese-Russian relations and left long-standing negotiations between the two countries over the disputed Kuril Islands and a related peace treaty... MORE

President Vladimir Putin has again taken his cabinet to task concerning the government's projected economic growth figures. During a scheduled cabinet meeting yesterday, Putin, who last month criticized the cabinet for being "insufficiently ambitious" in presenting a four-year economic plan with projected yearly growth in... MORE

The government apparently feels that President Vladimir Putin's criticism of it for projecting "insufficiently ambitious" economic growth figures is unfair. An unnamed high-level government official quoted today said: "The rate of growth is not set by directives. To force people to translate ideological presidential instructions... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin's post-September 11 embrace of the West and his more general efforts over the past year or so to present Russia as a serious and trustworthy diplomatic partner paid some small dividends last week when it was announced in Washington that Moscow... MORE

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said yesterday that he had no reliable information that Chechen rebel field commander Shamil Basaev had been killed. "I don't have information confirming that he is dead, but I do not doubt that it will happen sooner or later," Ivanov... MORE

The ruling Communist Party and the opposition Christian-Democrat People's Party (CDPP, the renamed Popular Front) are, thus far, abiding by the recommendations of the Council of Europe (CE) to deescalate the political confrontation and seek through dialogue to improve the functioning of Moldova's democratic institutions.... MORE