By Igor Rotar The Fergana valley is a special region of Uzbekistan. Cut off from the rest of the republic by mountains, it is more closely economically linked with the parts of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan also located in the valley. The population density here is... MORE

Russia sounded the alarm over its continuing financial woes and looked to the world community for aid in surmounting its economic crisis. That appeal came as various Russian political groups began positioning themselves for parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled in 1999 and 2000. In the... MORE

By Sergei Kolchin The two main export sectors in Russian industry--the oil and natural gas industries--are developing in fundamentally different directions. The oil industry is moving toward a competitive environment of several private companies, which are vertically integrated "from the prospecting geologist all the way... MORE

By Ilya Malyakin Article 36 of the Russian Constitution states that: "1. Citizens and their associations shall have the right to private property in land. 2. Owners may freely exercise their right to the possession, use and management of land and other natural resources, provided... MORE

By Aleksandr Buzgalin The dictum that everything in history repeats itself, not in the form of tragedy, but as farce, is frequently quoted in Russia, both aptly and ineptly. But the conflict between the Duma and the president, in its 1998 version, is, so to... MORE

By Yelena Dikun In the "late Brezhnev" era, the Kremlin leadership semi-officially established for itself a four-hour working day. The aged General Secretary and the other elderly leaders were physically incapable of sitting in their offices for eight hours straight. And those whose health permitted... MORE

Russia's fledgling economy was rocked by its third crisis in eight months. On May 27, the Central Bank hiked interest rates to a dizzying 150 percent to defend the ruble from forced devaluation. This was the worst crisis the economy had so far endured and... MORE

By Igor Rotar The average Russian thinks that the entire North Caucasus is a battle zone, only to be visited in case of extreme necessity. But this stereotype is only partially true. It is true that bursts of automatic rifle fire ring out and people... MORE

By Anna Matveeva North Ossetia is the only republic in the North Caucasus which has managed to achieve the transfer of power by Constitutional means at the ballot box. Aleksandr Dzasokhov, a State Duma deputy, won an impressive victory, taking 76 percent of the vote... MORE

By Volodymyr Zviglyanich The Communist victory in Ukraine's recent parliamentary elections was predicted by all the analysts and the pollsters. They disagreed only on the amount by which the leftists would beat all the other parties. Some polls gave the Communists 12 percent, while others... MORE