Capital Flight and Russian Economic Reform
Few problems confronting Russian President Vladimir Putin are as urgent as the continued flight of capital from Russia. Estimates by the US Treasury Department, the International Monetary Fund, and other…
The Clinton-Putin Summit and the Ultimate Security Issue: Democracy in Russia
The centerpiece of President Clinton's June meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin will be strengthening national security. The Administration plans to do this by focusing on nuclear weapons and National…
The 2000 Presidential Elections: The Political Taste and Aftertaste
The first relatively free and fair elections to the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR took place on March 26, 1989. These elections gave a strong impetus to the…
Why the Russian Economy is Unlikely to Become a New ‘Asian Tiger’
With the new president Vladimir Putin taking office in March 2000, there has been an array of predictions that acceleration of the economic reform process, accompanied by the strengthening of…
The Sinking of the Kursk
Even though more than a month has passed since the Kursk submarine abruptly sank in the Barents Sea on August 12, very few aspects of the tragedy have been explained…
Consolidation of the State and Economic Policy Scenarios Under Putin
Russia is currently on the edge of a third stage of economic and political reform. The first stage (1985-1991) was political liberalization. Transformation of the communist political and ideological regime…
Still Hobbling Along: An Update on the Russian Banking System
In the aftermath of Russia's August 1998 financial crisis, many observers had hoped that genuine reform and restructuring would occur in the Russian banking sector. Unfortunately, almost two years after…
The Dictatorship of Law in Russia: Neither Dictatorship, Nor Rule of Law
During the course of the 2000 presidential campaign, Vladimir Putin announced the idea of a "dictatorship of law" as a core part of his presidency. His pre-electoral message and state…
Putin and the Provinces
Since Vladimir Putin became Prime Minister of Russia in August 1999, and especially since he assumed the presidency on December 31, he has placed a high priority on reasserting federal…
Russia’s Policy on Nonproliferation Under Putin
On April 24, 2000, in New York, the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference will open to review continued implementation of the treaty. This is the first conference of the signatory…
The Essence of Putinism: The Strengthening of the Privatized State
As Russia moves further along the path of semi-authoritarian rule, studying the mindset and beliefs of the Kremlin dwellers again becomes important. The logic of Russian politics remains, as before,…
Putin and the Military: How Long Will the Honeymoon Last?
Russian President Vladimir Putin aggressively wooed the man in uniform during his victorious campaign for the Kremlin, from the time of his appointment as prime minister in August 1999 until…