On July 30-31, Moldova announced deep cuts in its army and called for its remainder to be merged with Transdniester's army in the framework of a political settlement of the conflict. President Vladimir Voronin made public his decision to cut the army's manpower from the... MORE

On July 31, the Armenian parliament closed ranks against the recently created, unofficial Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission and its proposals (see the Monitor, July 18). Five parliamentary parties and two nonpartisan parliamentary groups, making up an overwhelming majority of that fractious body, issued a joint declaration... MORE

Although the State Duma is in recess and Russia's overall political activity is in its yearly summertime ebb, the country's political rumor mill is still working full time. The newspaper Novaya Gazeta this week quoted unnamed sources in the Kremlin and the Federal Security Service... MORE

The Russian military has imposed new restrictions on the movement of journalists in Chechnya. Journalists may now move outside Khankala, the main Russian military base in the republic, only if accompanied by a military press officer (see the Monitor, July 27; see also Chechnya Weekly,... MORE

The European Union's high representative for foreign and security policy, Javier Solana, held talks on July 28-31 in Ukraine with President Leonid Kuchma and other top officials. The discussions centered on a possible role for Ukraine in the nascent European defense forces. Prefacing Solana's visit,... MORE

From July 15 to July 30, Ukraine hosted the Peace Shield-2001 military exercise at the Yavoriv training range in the Lviv Region. The range has the status of a NATO training center for peacekeeping troops. The exercise, in the framework of NATO's Partnership for Peace... MORE

On July 25, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma appointed state secretaries to thirteen of Ukraine's sixteen government ministries, following up on his May 29 decree to this effect. Those to the Interior Ministry and the Fuel and Energy Ministry will be appointed no later than September.... MORE

The Armenian economy started the year with a bang. Recently released data, however, show that the economy may be cooling off. In the first quarter of 2001, GDP rose by 12.1 percent year-on-year and industrial production was up 9.2 percent. After having reached US$588 million... MORE

Summit talks between Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin in Genoa on July 16 and a high-profile visit to Moscow last week by a trio of top Bush administration officials have highlighted the fact that a new period of diplomatic engagement between the two... MORE

Washington's aggressive pursuit of its strategic goals was manifest particularly in National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice's statements last week confirming that the Bush administration is seeking not merely to adjust the ABM Treaty but to dispense with it entirely. Following talks with Putin in Moscow... MORE