By Andrei Kolganov TERRORISM TODAY Political terrorism has a long history. Only since the Second World War, however, have terrorist attacks against civilians become widespread. When the machinery of state terror in many countries not only demonstrated a cynical contempt for the lives of ordinary... MORE

By Andrei Piontkowsky At the beginning of this week I took part in a seminar in the State Duma of the Russian Federation. Several of those present discussed, in all seriousness, the possibility of using thermonuclear weapons in Chechnya. I spoke against this, drawing on... MORE

By Mikhail Zherebiatev The deputies of the Krasnodar krai Duma have drawn up a package of draft amendments to regional legislation, spelling a change in the principles of local government. Essentially, these amendments amount to the local population being stripped of the right to directly... MORE

RUSSIAN POLITICS: PRIME MINISTERS EVERYWHERE Most of the political news in Russia this past fortnight involved the activities of former prime ministers--hardly a surprise, given the degree to which they've been proliferating. The second-most-recent ex-premier, Yevgeny Primakov, finally took a step back onto the political... MORE

By Elena Dikun On August 9 Russian President Boris Yeltsin named the latest candidate to succeed him: Director of the FSB and secretary of the Security Council Vladimir Putin. Yeltsin paved the way for his successor's career move and strengthened his position by appointing him... MORE

By Aleksandr Buzgalin The latest cabinet dismissal--that of former Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin, who had had barely three months in the job--was greeted with little more than a sarcastic smile by most Russians, to the effect: What can you expect from him [Yeltsin]? Then comes... MORE

By Ilya Malyakin Attempts by Russia's regional leaders to intervene in the activities of the federal center and even to take control of it have already enjoyed a fairly long history. Such attempts were impossible in the Soviet period and the early stages of post-Soviet... MORE

By Galina M. Yemelianova In 1789 the enlightened but tough Tsarina Catherine the Great (1729-1796) invented the institution of the Muftyat as a medium of state control of her Muslim subjects. The decision was taken in the aftermath of the Pugachev popular revolt (1773-1775) which... MORE

By Sergei Kolchin In the Soviet Union, Caspian oil was seen as the superpower's strategic back-up. Back then, it was economically viable to develop the huge West Siberian reserves, which provided a reliable profit. Given this, few saw much point in troubling themselves with tackling... MORE

By Volodymyr Zviglyanich Between 1994 and 1998, the Sociological Institute of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences--with the support of the Democratic Initiatives foundation and the Socis-Gallop organization--monitored the current state of affairs and development trends in Ukrainian society. In May of each year a... MORE