By Elena Chinyaeva March 26 of this year marked the midway point of President Vladimir Putin's first term as president and, as such, was a convenient date for drawing intermediate conclusions about his presidency. In reality, Vladimir Putin has been in power de facto since... MORE

By Mikhail Zherebyatev In early 2002 State Duma deputy Aleksandr Chuev, head of the tiny Christian Democratic Party of Russia, published his own version of the Federal law "On traditional religious organizations in the Russian Federation." Chuev belongs to the pro-presidential and simultaneously pro-governmental faction--which... MORE

By Aleksandr Tsipko One of March's more significant events was the decision of the press ministry's competition commission to return the rights to the sixth TV channel to the team headed by Yevgeny Kiselev. Officially, a competitive tender resulted in a victory for Media-Sotsium, which... MORE

By Mikhail Kochkin The scandals of the past year surrounding the nationalization or closure of national privately owned media outlets (NTV, TV-6) have lent the phrase "freedom of speech" a new relevance and currency, perhaps for the first time since the break-up of the Soviet... MORE

By Aleksandr Tsipko In recent days, practically the whole of Russia's expert community has once again become preoccupied with the problem of Putin, assessing him both as an individual and as the nation's president. Every high-profile gathering of the elite in Moscow, including a seminar... MORE

By A.I. Kolganov For a long time, one of the main arguments cited by supporters of Russia's entry into the WTO has been the promise of significant benefits resulting from the lifting of the various trade barriers which currently prevent Russian goods breaking into the... MORE

By Aleksandr Buzgalin Ever since the recent war in Yugoslavia (though that now seems to belong to a different era), almost every public opinion poll in Russia has shown increasing numbers of Russians taking a generally negative view of the United States. The proportion of... MORE

By Sadji A number of countries, headed by the United States, are currently waging a war on terrorism. At the same time, however, little thought is being given to the question of the causes of terrorism. Clearly, if we cannot pinpoint how terrorism arose and... MORE

By Sergei Kolchin When they were still newly established, Russia's vertically integrated oil and gas companies welcomed the presence of minority shareholders in the capital of their daughter enterprises. It was considered a sign of the democracy and competitiveness of the newly established market environment.... MORE

By Taras Kuzio In 2000 a constitutional crisis in Moldova pitted the executive branch against the legislature. It was resolved when the country became the first full parliamentary democracy in the Commonwealth of Independent States. Moldovan President Petru Lucinschi remained in his post until the... MORE