Kozyrev aide pushes nationalist agenda by Paul A. Goble During a June 26 Federation Council discussion on Russian nationalsecurity, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's policyplanning staff laid out a frightening, even bizarre, vision ofwhere he thinks Russia should be going. His remarks were... MORE

Political intrigue exists on both sides in Grozny by Igor Rotar The Chechen crisis has shifted into a new phase. The catalystsfor this shift were the tragic events in Budennovsk, and the negotiationsbetween representatives of Moscow and those of Dzhokhar Dudayevwhich followed these events. Moscow... MORE

Moscow launches diplomatic offensive on Bosnia and in pariah states Three events to look for in the coming week include a partialagreement in Chechnya and the announcement of a decision by theRussian Constitutional Court on the legality of that conflict;increased pressure by the Russian military... MORE

Moscow split on Chechnya Three developments dominated the week just past: a breakdownin the Chechen peace talks, a Russian diplomatic offensive againstWestern efforts to halt Serbian aggression in Bosnia, and a lessthan successful meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian premierson the future of the Black... MORE

Fact Page Fact Page LANGUAGE COMPETENCE OF RUSSIANS AND NON-RUSSIANS (Numbers Taken from 1989 Census)Country Titular Nationality Russian Minority (with % knowing Russian) with % knowing local language)Russia 119,807,165 NAUkraine 37,340,368(59.4%) 11,340,250(32.7%)Belarus 7,897,781(60.4%) 1,341,055(24.5%)Moldova 2,790,769(53.4%) 560,423(11.2%)Armenia 3,081,920(44.3%) 51,553(32.2%)Georgia 3,789,385(31.8%) 338,645(22.7%)Azerbaijan 5,800,994(31.7%) 392,303(14.3%)Kazakhstan 6,531,921(62.8%) 6,226,400( 0.9%)Kyrgyzstan... MORE

Human rights not doing well in Central Asian states by David Nissman The new republics of Central Asia--Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan--are struggling to create legal systemsto protect the rights and freedoms of individuals. As in thecase of their regulation of political opposition groups,... MORE

Moldova may be heading toward instability by Vladimir Socor Moldova does not have an abundance of assets to sustain its independenceand modernization. Now it risks losing one of the few major resourcesit has recently enjoyed: domestic political stability and civicconsensus. President Mircea Snegur earlier this... MORE

Russian defense minister Pavel Grachev makes a play for power by Aleksandr Zhilin Even as the fighting winds down, Chechnya is making an ever greaterimpression on the domestic politics and foreign polices of theKremlin. Finding itself in a blind alley in the North Caucasus,Moscow is... MORE

Yeltsin defines the playing field for the upcoming parliamentary elections by Victor Yasmann From his hospital bed, Boris Yeltsin signed a decree on July14 which set December 17 as the date for elections to the Russianparliament. Although many politicians have been campaigning formonths, no one... MORE

Chechnya stands between an unsteady peace and a new war The possible signing of an agreement in Chechnya, the start ofthe parliamentary election, and a new upsurge in reporting aboutthe travails of the Russian people in this time of difficult changeare likely to dominate the... MORE