Sunday's meeting in Genoa between Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin, which unexpectedly produced an agreement linking missile defense and strategic arms reduction talks, has reverberated as strongly in the Russian media as it has in many Western news outlets. Indeed, for a president... MORE

In a development that went almost unnoticed last week, the Prosecutor General's Office announced on July 20 that it had completed its investigation into alleged financial machinations involving the state airline Aeroflot. Those accused in the case--including Nikolai Glushkov, Aeroflot's former first deputy general director;... MORE

One of the most interesting and puzzling aspects of the Aeroflot case is that no charges have been brought against Boris Berezovsky, the self-exiled oligarch and TV-6 owner, who was a close associate of those charged and once widely believed to have masterminded the unorthodox... MORE

The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Hojatolislam Hassan Rowhani, paid official visits on July 16-22 to Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. The tour appeared designed to raise Iran's profile as a regional power and to claim a larger role for Tehran in the resolution... MORE

President Robert Kocharian, Defense Minister Serge Sarkisian--who doubles as secretary of the National Security Council--and other top officials underscored the importance of Armenia's relations with Iran during the visit of Hojatolislam Hassan Rowhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, to Yerevan on July 16-17.... MORE

On his visit to Georgia the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Hojatolislam Hassan Rowhani, chose to stress the "three plus three" formula for regional security in the South Caucasus. That restrictive formula includes Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia alongside Russia, Iran and Turkey. It... MORE

Unlike the Yerevan meeting, that in Baku was marked by mutual recriminations between Hojatolislam Hassan Rowhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, and the Azerbaijani leaders. Expressing Iran's long-held positions, Rowhani criticized Azerbaijan for its semi-official hints that it would welcome NATO troops in... MORE

As international media focused their attention this past weekend on the summit meeting of the Group of Seven countries and Russia in Genoa--an event at which Russian President Vladimir Putin hoped to solidify Russia's place among the world's leading democracies--an effort many think is aimed... MORE

Suspicions have been raised by Moscow's plan, in recovering the sunken submarine Kursk, to first lop off the front end before lifting the bulk of the vessel. Official sources say that the decision is based on concerns that unexploded torpedoes still in the weapons bay,... MORE

The power struggle between President Vladimir Putin's team and the leaders of Russia's constituent republics and regions is heating up again. On July 17, the commission charged with delimiting the respective powers of the federal center and the "subjects of the federation" met for the... MORE