Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russia's Scarecrow by Aleksandr Zhilin Ever since the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) wona surprising victory in the 1993 parliamentary election, the Russianpress has circulated the rumor that both the party and its odiousleader, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, are creations of the security services.These... MORE

Brotherly Love: Russia and the Serbs By Igor Rotar When I first arrived in Belgrade, I addressed people in English.But I got unexpected reactions: "Why do you speak this fascistlanguage? They bomb us, the Slavs. Speak Russian. You, the Russians,are our brothers!" a waiter in... MORE

Do the Russians Know Where Their Nuclear Weapons Are? by Stanislav Lunev On Christmas Day, 1991, the first and last Soviet president--acrestfallen Mikhail Gorbachev--turned over the reigns of powerto a high-spirited and slightly tipsy Boris Yeltsin, the firstand last president of the Russian Soviet Federated... MORE

An Uneasy Peace in Chechnya by Marina Perevozkina Chechnya has entered a stage of precarious balance betweenwar and peace, one which is likely to continue for some time. The peace negotiations are deadlocked. The discussion of political issues, including the status of Chechnya, is supposedto... MORE

Prism Interview: "We Set Off For Budennovsk With A One-Way Ticket" "We Set Off for Budennovsk with a 'One-Way Ticket'..." A Prism Interview With Shamil Basayev's Deputy, Aslambek Abdulkhadzhiev Aslambek Abdulkhadzhiev is a deputy and right-hand man of Shamil Basayev, the commander of the reconnaissance... MORE

The Roots of the Latvian Bank Failures by Paul A. Goble On September 27, Bank of Latvia director Einars Repse told journalistsin Riga that Latvia had survived the worst period of the financialcrisis sparked by the failure of the Baltija Bank last spring.He further insisted... MORE

Prism Interview: The Agrarian Party Chairman Speaks Out An interview with Mikhail Lapshin, State Duma deputy and RussianAgrarian Party Chairman. The interview was conducted for Prismby Yevgeny Krasnolobov, a correspondent for Moscow's "OpenRadio." Prism: Are there any laws or international agreementsin the area of economics... MORE

Russian Nationalism Takes An Economic Turn by Mikhail Gershaft Nowadays, it's only the very lazy journalist or analyst who isn'tengaged in predicting the outcome of the upcoming parliamentaryand presidential elections in Russia. This really is interestingand topical, not only for Russia, but for the whole... MORE

Yeltsin and Clinton Play "Yugoslavian Roulette" by Aleksandr Zhilin It is difficult to say for certain at this point how the recentmilitary operation in Bosnia will be reflected in the US president'spolling numbers. However, it is obvious today that NATO's intensiveair attacks against the Serb... MORE

Internal Stability: The Key to Central Asian National Security by Dr. Evgueni Novikov The countries of Central Asia see internal political stabilityas their most important national security problem. In practice,this striving for stability slows the pace of reform of the oldpolitical and economic system which... MORE