In St. Petersburg today, Russian President Vladimir Putin but out a call for development of alternatives to the World Trade Organization. He would like to see a greater role for regional currencies and opportunities for developing economies. He was speaking at an economic forum where he said that the current international economic organizations were out [...]

In the Ukraine, lawmakers have passed a set of bills that will enable the country to have early parliamentary elections which could be a critical step in terms of solving the political crisis in that country that some think may turn violent. In a deal brokered between President Viktor Yushchenko and his political rival, Prime [...]

There has been tentative approval in the Russian State Duma to restrict smoking to specific areas in public places like waiting lounges, airports and restaurants. Fines would range from $190 for individuals and up the $3,900 for companies and establishments that fail to enforce the rules. There are no fines proposed for individual smokers. The [...]

In April of 1998 a video was made by three Federal Security agents claiming that they had been given orders to kidnap, kill and frame some prominent Russians. They said they were making the tape to insure that if something happened to them the truth would be known.

This past weekend in the Volgograd mayor’s election the Communist candidate, Roman Grebennikov won in a decisive victory over the United Russia candidate, Vasily Galushkin. That makes Grebennikov the first Communist mayor of a major city for the first time in a long time, as well as being the youngest mayor of a regional capital [...]