Yeltsin's heart attack reshapes Russian politics The Week Just Past

Fact Page NON-RUSSIAN TITULAR NATIONALITY MEMBERS LIVING ABROAD (Numbers taken from 1989 Census)Country Number Abroad Percentage AbroadRussia 25,264,365 17.4%Ukraine 6,765,621 15.3%Belarus 2,132,660 21.3%Moldova 564,471 16.8%Armenia 1,545,307 33.4%Georgia 193,730 4.9%Azerbaijan 990,112 14.6%Kazakhstan 1,605,957 19.3%Kyrgyzstan 302,516 12.0%Uzbekistan 2,562,714 15.4%Turkmenistan 194,161 7.1%Tajikistan 1,048,500 24.9%Estonia 63,986 6.2%Latvia 71,513 4.9%Lithuania... MORE

Opposition parties in Central Asia remain under fire by David Nissman The former Soviet republics of Central Asia--Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan--became independent atthe end of 1991 with little recent, or even historical, experiencewith the rights of individuals, and only slightly more in therealm of... MORE

The mysterious Felix Group raises its profile by Victor Yasmann Last week, Komsomolskaya pravda published an interviewwith an anonymous officer of the mysterious "Felix"group. In it, the former KGB officer said that his group had establishedspecial death squads to liquidate corrupt Russian government officialswhom he... MORE

The parliamentary election law tilts the system toward the executive by James Voorhees* Now that the latest political crisis in Moscow seems to haveended, and Yeltsin has set December 17 as the date forthe parliamentary elections, the campaign for the new Duma canbegin in earnest.... MORE

Moscow's new approach to politics likely to fail by Paul A. Goble Beneath the drama of the last month--the Budennovsk hostage crisisand the start of peace talks in Chechnya, the renewal of Yeltsin'sSecurity Council, and the Duma's failure to oust or even seriouslylimit the power... MORE

The Russian election campaign begins in earnest Three events are likely to dominate the week ahead: the Chechentalks and the possible resumption of fighting there, growing Russiananger over the deteriorating situation in Tajikistan and a possibledecision to reinforce Russian forces there or to pull out... MORE

Chechen talks head toward deadlock with possible explosions ahead Three developments dominated the week just past: the Chechentalks which seem headed toward deadlock or irrelevancy, the hospitalizationof Yeltsin and the official start of the election campaign, anda blizzard of depressing news about the Russian economy... MORE

Fact Page RUSSIANS LIVING IN FORMER SOVIET REPUBLICS (Numbers Taken from 1989 Census)Country No. of Russians Percent of All RussiansRussia 119,807,165 82.6%Ukraine 11,340,250 7.8%Belarus 1,341,055 0.9%Moldova 560,423 0.4%Armenia 51,553 0.04%Georgia 338,645 0.2%Azerbaijan 392,303 0.3%Kazakhstan 6,226,400 4.3%Kyrgyzstan 916,543 0.6%Uzbekistan 1,652,179 1.1%Turkmenistan 334,477 0.23%Tajikistan 386,630 0.3%Estonia 474,815... MORE

Crimean Tatars reenter politics with a bang by David Nissman For most of the last two years, international attention to theCrimea has been devoted to just two of the actors in the region:to the ethnic Russians with their ties to the Black Sea Fleetand to... MORE