By Peter Rutland Events in Russia are still in a state of crisis, and resolution of the political and economic collapse which befell the country may not come for several months. The situation is eerily reminiscent of the failed August 1991 coup: It was not... MORE

Russia's prolonged and agonizing economic turmoil turned into a full-scale political crisis when, on August 31, the opposition-dominated State Duma voted down President Boris Yeltsin's nomination of Viktor Chernomyrdin as prime minister. Yeltsin immediately reconfirmed his support for Chernomyrdin's candidacy. If the Duma rejects his... MORE

In English: https://www.armeniaemb.org/geninfo/constitution.htm 2. Azerbaijan:

the Kazakh SSR was, in practice, the First Secretary of the Central

By Volodymyr Zviglyanich COMMUNISM AND PRAGMATISM The "communism-anticommunism" dichotomy continues to be the tool used to analyze the politics of post-Communist states, both by Western political scientists and by their colleagues from the newly-independent states [NIS]. In its time, it served as a powerful instrument... MORE

By Igor Rotar In a resolution adopted on July 25, one thousand delegates of the Congress of the Muslims of the Caucasus demanded that: "'Wahhabism,' a movement new to our region, be banned through legislation; that the literature they distribute be confiscated; and the youth... MORE

CHECHNYA CASTS A LONG SHADOW Russia's tortured relations with Chechnya formed the backdrop against which the main events of the past fortnight were played out. On August 1, Prime Minister Sergei Kirienko marked his first hundred days in office by meeting with Aslan Maskhadov, the... MORE

By John Varoli On July 17, Russia took the first major step, one of yet many that it needs to take, towards coming to terms with its bloody and turbulent 20th century history. By burying Nikolai II and his family in St. Petersburg's Peter and... MORE

Fears of budget collapse and a forced ruble devaluation were staved off on July 20, when the IMF formally approved a new loan to Russia of US$11.2 billion. The loan formed part of a US$22.6 billion rescue package to bolster Russia's depleted gold and hard... MORE

By Aleksandr Buzgalin Today, it has become almost a cliche to say that the Russian economy, and Russian society in general, are the place where the largest financial-industrial groups collide. Their fusion with the state apparatus, and the corruption of the latter have become just... MORE