Russia's surprisingly resilient military-industrial complex By Stanislav Lunev A strange situation has taken shape today in the Russian military-industrial complex (MIC). On the one hand, the representatives of this complex, supported by nationalistically-minded legislators and the radical press, are expressing alarm at the ostensibly calamitous... MORE

Are the Cossacks a real force in Russian politics today? By Vasily Andreev One of the most unexpected results of Mikhail Gorbachev's liberalization of Soviet society was the resurgence of Cossack communities in Russia and other parts of the Soviet Union. In 1990, the Cossacks... MORE

The Fortnight in Review Three documents, accorded vastly differing levels of coverage in the Western press and reflecting equally divergent levels of Russian foreign policy, won the Kremlin's consent over the past fortnight. One, the long-awaited political agreement between Russia and NATO, will shape --... MORE

"Lukashism" has the potential to spread beyond Belarus By Aleksandr Potupa This article is a brief attempt to explain the situation in Belarus to readers who may be far from its borders. Most of the events observed today were predicted by the author with sickening... MORE

Social organizations provide the key to changing the "Belarusan Constant" By Paulyuk Bykowski The "Belarusan constant" could change if the "third sector" -- various social and non-governmental organizations -- deprives the state of its monopoly on social guarantees, the Belarusan democratic opposition works out a... MORE

Ukraine's cautious movement towards NATO By Dmitry Koublitsky Into NATO or Towards NATO? There is a reason for using this subtitle, which comes from a well-known statement by Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma, for this is exactly the way that the dilemma which Ukraine now faces,... MORE

The Fortnight in Review The long-building tension in Ukraine between the politically possible and the economically necessary intensified over the past fortnight, as efforts to reinvigorate economic reform were stymied by a myriad of political interests. In Russia the situation was somewhat different. The installation... MORE

Chechnya: The war is over, but the situation remains complex By Aleksei Malashenko In the last week of February, the Moscow Islamic Research Institute and the Peace and Accord Federation issued invitations to a round-table on "Chechnya Between Past and Future." To the organizers' surprise,... MORE

Profile of Boris Nemtsov: Russia's newest first deputy premier By Yelena Dikun Last month, Boris Nemtsov was appointed first deputy premier in Russia's reshuffled government. Since 1991, he had been governor of Nizhny Novgorod oblast, flagship region of Russia's economic reforms. Nemtsov's record for efficient... MORE

Russia's gangsters have succeeded in blurring distinctions between right and wrong, law and crime By David Satter This is an expanded version of an article which previously appeared in the Wall Street Journal. Reprinted with permission of the WSJ. Copyright © 1997 Dow Jones&Company, Inc.... MORE