The Origin of the Chechen Conflict by Dr. Evgueni Novikov St. Sylvester's Eve [December 31], 1995 was the one-year anniversary of the Russian army's abortive attempt to take Grozny by storm. This date marks the beginning of the war officially declared by Moscow against the... MORE

A Man from the Soviet Apparat to Guide Russia's Foreign Policy by Volodymyr Zviglyanich On January 9, Yeltsin nominated his chief spy master, Yevgeny Primakov, a former journalist and academic, to be Russia's new foreign minister, signifying the more assertive and nationalistic stance the Kremlin... MORE

Russian Communists Try Multi-Ethnic Fundamentalism by Maryanne Ozernoy In a recent broadcast, Russia's official radio station "Voice of Russia" stated that Zyuganov's Communist party, the KPRF, was backed in Russian provincial regions and autonomous republics for economic reasons. The central government halted subsidies to the... MORE

The Rise of "Instinctive Demagogues" Threatens Ukraine by Volodymyr Zviglyanich The results of the parliamentary elections in Russia have confirmed the data of sociological polls that predicted the success of the Communists and their leader, Gennady Zyuganov. If one regards the Communists and Zhirinovsky's men... MORE

The New Duma: An End to Business as Usual? by Gleb Cherkassov The most obvious result of the December 17th parliamentary elections is that the system of inter-parliamentary restraints and counterbalances which existed in the 5th (former) State Duma has been destroyed. (Here it is... MORE

Russia's Future: Fighting to Keep Pace by Alexander Zhilin Experts and analysts from the apparatus of Presidential National Security Aide Yuri Baturin have analyzed the so-called "untraditional" aspects of Russia's national security and have drafted a report on the issue to be submitted to President... MORE

Caspian Oil--The New Great Game by Rossen Vassilev Moscow and Washington are increasingly drawn into a rivalry over the oil wealth of the Caspian Sea, comparable to the Great Game struggle in the 19th century between Russia and Britain for influence in Central Asia. Since... MORE

Reflections of a "Red Banker" Prism: Do you feel abused when you are referred to as a "red banker?" Semago: Not in the least. By the way these two words are absolutely incompatible with regard to their sense. This is just an inconsistent word combination.... MORE

The Communist Party won with a new, improved "Holy Russia" ideology by Aleksandr Tsipko and Maryanne Ozernoy Back in 1991, no one would have imagined that the Communist partywould be at the forefront of Russian politics today. Only fouryears ago we watched TV images of... MORE

The outcome of the parliamentary elections in Russia: Why is Yeltsin smiling? by Aleksandr Zhilin The election results, even though still preliminary, aroused quitea bit of excitement as the communist victory was broadcast innews headlines around the world last Monday. These headlines didnot, however, disturb... MORE