Latest Articles about Middle East

Court Reverses Major Power Plant Privatization

The Sayano-Shushensk hydro-electric plant, on the mighty Yenisei river in the Siberian republic of Khakasia, is the jewel in the crown of the national electricity company United Energy System. The plant, the fourth largest in the world, produces US$3 billion worth of power a year... MORE

U.S. Treatment Of Iraq Prisoners Under Fire

Russia's Foreign Ministry weighed in yesterday on the scandal surrounding the abuse of Iraqis detained by U.S.-led coalition forces. Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov called the reported "cases of torture" a cause for "deep concern." He added: "Apart from the fact that these [cases of]... MORE

The Eu Expansion: Economic Implications For Russia

Economics dominate Russia's relations with the European Union. Will Russia benefit, or suffer, from the expansion of the EU - and to what extent did these considerations influence Russian policy towards the enlargement? For political reasons, Russian commentators chose to interpret EU enlargement as bad... MORE

Un Veto Sparks Debate On Russian Policy Aims

On April 21, Russia used its veto power - for the first time in ten years - to block a draft UN Security Council resolution on Cyprus. A British- and U.S.-sponsored resolution would have guaranteed the security of Greek and Turkish Cypriots if they accepted... MORE

Group Claims 25,000 Russian Soldiers Have Died In Chechnya

The head of the Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers, Valentina Melnikova, told Ekho Moskvy on May 4 that her organization estimates that about 25,000 Russian soldiers and policemen have been killed in Chechnya since 1994, when Moscow launched its first military campaign in the... MORE

Russia’s Top Bankruptcy Expert Gunned Down

On the morning of Wednesday, April 28, the former head of Russia's Federal Bankruptcy Service, Georgy Tal, was shot on the street outside his office in downtown Moscow. The 48-year-old Tal headed the Federal Bankruptcy Service from January 1998 to February 2001, and helped write... MORE

Youth Group Wants To Extend President’s Term

On April 29, representatives of a recently-formed youth movement filed documents with the Moscow City Election Commission to register an initiative group whose aim would be drumming up support for holding a national referendum on whether to extend the presidential term from four to ten... MORE

The Eu’s Enlargement; Russia Plays Bridesmaid

In the mid-1980s then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev made the building of a "common European home" the central plank in a radical new foreign policy initiative aimed at drawing Western European governments closer to Moscow while simultaneously undermining the NATO alliance and broader ties between... MORE