In June 2004 International Atomic Energy Agency Chairman Mohammad El Baradei announced that the Russian-built reactor at Bushehr was not the focus of Iran's nuclear program (Yahoo.com, June 30). This statement naturally pleased Russia, which can now state that its program of nuclear assistance to... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin turned down NATO's invitation to attend the alliance's recent Istanbul summit. A series of insistent, public entreaties proved counterproductive, tempting the Kremlin to ask a high political price for Putin's attendance. He wanted NATO to call for ratification of the 1999-adapted... MORE

According to the Russian Statistical Yearbook for 2000, Russia's permanent population (i.e. citizens plus legal residents from other CIS republics) decreased from 147 million people at the end of 1988 to 145.6 million at the end of 1999. During the same period, the number of... MORE

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the Interfax news agency on June 29 that Russia "does not have any intention of helping Iraq set up its army." Lavrov was speaking in Istanbul following the NATO-Russia Council meeting that took place on the sidelines of the NATO... MORE

An extreme nationalist group has claimed responsibility for the murder of St. Petersburg ethnologist Nikolai Girenko. On June 19, the 64-year-old expert on ethnic and racial issues, who has provided expert testimony for prosecutors in cases involving racially motivated attacks, was shot through the door... MORE

Major-General Anatoly Kvashnin, Chief of the General Staff, has issued a stinging critique of next year's preliminary defense budget, going so far as to state that the Russian army is underpaid. His attack on the budget is less connected with an honorable defense of the... MORE

Last week saw an intensification of Russia's diplomacy in strategic Central Asia. On June 17, the leaders of Russia, China, and four Central Asian nations met in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, to raise the profile of their security grouping, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). This gathering was... MORE

While the numbers are still preliminary, Russian news agencies early on June 23 quoted a source in Ingushetia's Interior Ministry as saying that 57 people were killed in attacks launched simultaneously by armed guerrillas across Ingushetia. The attacks, which began on the evening of June... MORE

A historic large-scale Russian military exercise is currently in progress, testing the ability of the armed forces to deploy high-readiness and reserve units rapidly across Russian territory. The operational strategic military exercise, codenamed Mobility 2004, began at 0800 (Moscow time) on June 9, with three... MORE

Russian observers, like their US counterparts, have been reacting to President Vladimir Putin's assertion that Russian intelligence agencies had received information that Saddam Hussein's regime was planning terrorist attacks against American targets and had warned US intelligence. Putin made the comment on June 18 while... MORE