On July 19, President Vladimir Putin fired Anatoly Kvashnin, Chief of the General Staff, as part of sweeping changes to the top brass in the Russian military. The announcement followed growing speculation in the Russian media and military press about Kvashnin's future. The conjecture was... MORE

On July 12, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his second plenary address to the Russian diplomatic corps. Putin declared that Russia should be at the vanguard of the countries "shaping the new world order." In this respect, Russia's ambassadors were told to do more to... MORE

While there are apparently no leads thus far in the Russian authorities' investigation of the July 9 murder of Paul Klebnikov, editor of the Russian-language version of Forbes magazine, various Western media have made much of the comments by Valery Straletsky, head of Detektiv Press,... MORE

The presidential decree restructuring the Federal Security Service (FSB), which was signed by President Vladimir Putin on July 11 and made public by the Kremlin on July 14, has not amounted to the worst-case scenario that some human rights activists had feared, namely the restoration... MORE

Competing oil pipeline projects in the Russian Far East were the topic of a lively symposium among specialists from Russia, China, Korea, Japan, and the United States at the Slavic Research Center in Sapporo, Japan, on July 14-16. Last year the Russian government surprised observers... MORE

The six-power negotiations over North Korean nuclearization have essentially two purposes. One obvious goal is to resolve peacefully and equitably the crisis generated by Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program. The second, and less obvious, goal is to codify a new status quo in Northeast Asia and... MORE

The World Bank and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have just released their latest reports on the state of the Russian economy. Both reports are surprisingly bullish about Russia's long-term prospects. Surprising, that is, given the daily stream of news about the bankrupting of... MORE

Russian observers continue to discuss the July 9 murder of American journalist Paul Klebnikov, editor of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine. Gazeta.ru wrote that the list of Russia's 100 leading tycoons along with estimates of their wealth published in the magazine in May broke... MORE

On July 10 Paul Klebnikov, the chief editor of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, was shot at point-blank range by a hired killer in Moscow. Almost one year earlier, on July 3, 2003, another journalist, Yuri Shchekochikhin, deputy editor of the Russian newspaper Novaya... MORE

The murder of Paul Klebnikov, editor of the Russian-language version of Forbes magazine, which began publication in April, has shocked observers in both Russia and the West. It has also sparked intense speculation about who was behind what everyone believes was a contract killing. The... MORE