INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS:

New chairman Dmitri Rogozin rose to prominence as leader of the Congress of Russian Communities (Russian initials: KRO) , a political organization based on Russian ethnicity. The KRO tried to raise money and support by appealing to the estimated 25 million Russians in the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union. Rogozin sees this Russian diaspora as both an end and means of Russia’s foreign policy. In his view, Russia must assure their security and promote their welfare, while they in turn promote Russia’s interests in the states where they reside.