Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov appears poised to gain full control over the Russian General Staff, bringing to a close his personal antagonism toward Chief of General Staff General Anatoliy Kvashnin. A proposed law on defense, which passed its second stage in the Duma last... MORE

Evidently Russia wants to intensify its role at the six-power talks on North Korea's nuclear program. But it is doing so by carving out a position at odds with Washington's stance and which only facilitates Pyongyang's nuclearization. Moscow is calling for security guarantees for North... MORE

On June 10, labor unions organized protests in 300 cities across Russia, the first nationwide protests since President Vladimir Putin took office in 2000. A modest crowd of 1,500 gathered in heavy rain in Moscow to protest wage arrears and the new government plan to... MORE

The content of a presidential address is not as important as its value as drama, with all the theatrical elements, including plot line, culmination and denouement. However, it is highly unlikely that a presidential address has ever been in the epicenter of very important events... MORE

When the G8 summit at Sea Island, Georgia ended on June 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised host country America "for both the content of the discussion and the atmosphere," which he described as "relaxed and very open." Putin even waded into U.S. domestic politics... MORE

The Moscow District Military Court on June 10 acquitted six defendants accused of killing Moskovsky Komsomolets reporter Dmitry Kholodov in October 1994, arguing that the prosecutor general's office had failed to present sufficient evidence. Kholodov, who had written a number of articles alleging corruption among... MORE

Last week, the Russian police agency responsible for tackling organized crime landed a big fish. At 5.00 a.m. on June 2, 150 GUBOP officials raided 15 locations, arresting four top officials from the State Fisheries Committee. Aleksandr Tugushev was appointed deputy head of the fisheries... MORE

Hermitage Capital Management has issued a report highly critical of the management of the Gazprom, Russia's largest company. Hermitage, a minority shareholder in Gazprom, wants Vadim Kleiner, research director of Hermitage, to be elected to the Gazprom board. Scrutinizing last year's accounts, Hermitage found a... MORE

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov triumphantly announced the start on June 9 of military exercises of a scale that "Russia has not seen before". The codename is "Mobilnost (Mobility) – 2004" and indeed the key element is the airlift of three combat units: one company... MORE

Unofficially, Russian President Vladimir Putin has indicated that he will not attend the NATO summit in Istanbul on June 28-29. NATO spokesman James Appathurai said several days ago that "discussions are still ongoing with Moscow, and the alliance has not been officially notified whether Putin... MORE