Roughly three years after he was first jailed on what human rights advocates have claimed are trumped up espionage charges, a former senior Russian diplomat's criminal case is yet to be fully resolved. Valentin Moiseev, who at the time of his arrest was serving as... MORE

Chechen rebels have sharply stepped up their attacks on federal forces in recent days. Two Russian soldiers were reportedly killed last night in an explosion in Chechnya's Kurchaloi district. The incident occurred when rebels detonated a radio-controlled mine they had placed at a police checkpoint.... MORE

The Chechen rebels have stepped up their activity in the final month of summer, not only because August provides ideal topographic conditions for guerrilla warfare, but also because they are seeking revenge for a series of punitive federal raids in July in western Chechen villages.... MORE

The Commonwealth of Independent States' annual air defense exercise, Combat Commonwealth-2001, has been underway at the Ashuluk training range in Russia's Astrakhan Region since August 22, culminating today with the firing of ten live missile launches. Russian, Belarusan, Armenian and Tajik air defense units participate... MORE

Ever since a massive bailout of the banking sector in 1995, Latvian banks have been viewed with skepticism by Westerners and Latvians alike. In fact, the failure of a recent attempt to privatize the shipping company LASCO has been blamed on the banking sector, one... MORE

A trio of recent developments has put the practices and prospects of Russia's arms exports back in the spotlight. These include the publication earlier this month of a U.S. congressional study with new international arms sales figures, the holding of a Russian-sponsored international airshow near... MORE

The biweekly newspaper Novaya Gazeta has devoted almost all of the space in its latest issue to excerpts from a book co-written by Aleksandr Litvinenko, a former Federal Security Service (FSB) lieutenant colonel who left Russia last year and received political asylum in the United... MORE

In their new book, former FSB officer Aleksandr Litvinenko and historian Yury Felshtinsky also assert that the Russian security services were behind the apartment building bombings in Moscow and several other cities in 1999, which killed nearly 300 people and were the proximate cause for... MORE

Turkey's Armed Forces chief of staff, General Hussein Kivrikoglu, and a squadron of Turkish fighter planes visited Azerbaijan on August 24-26. Although prescheduled, the visit took on unplanned political overtones in the wake of Iran's recent use of military force in the Caspian Sea against... MORE

moderation notwithstanding, Tehran attacked Washington in connection with Assistant Secretary of State Elizabeth Jones' Baku visit. A statement by Iran's Foreign Affairs Ministry, denouncing the "attempt to sow discord between Iran and the neighbor country [Azerbaijan]," went on to underscore Iran's "just claim" to the... MORE