Senior members of the Russian parliament and their staff advisors have not seen the text of the Russian agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), although the government has made commitments which require parliamentary approval. Interviews with deputies and officials of the Supreme Soviet this week also indicate that some of the provisions of IMF […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, August 27th, 1992
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By John Helmer in Moscow Today marks the anniversary of Boris Yeltsin’s election as President of Russia. It is no moment for celebration. The government which he led successfully over the attempted putsch of last August and through the disintegration of the Soviet Union now lacks credible authority in the Russian federation and among its […]

by John Helmer - Friday, July 10th, 1992
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News Analysis By John Helmer in Moscow In lengthy voting and debate on Saturday and this week, the Russian Congress of Peoples’ Deputies showed that a majority wants to develop in the direction of the American Congressional pattern, sharing power with President Yeltsin in a system of checks and balances. The Congress votes also showed […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, April 30th, 1992
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By John Helmer in Moscow The soft-spoken general is wearing civilian clothes — a trim double-breasted suit, with a paisley tie discreetly knotted at a pressed white collar. It is not the uniform of the old nomenklatura, nor of the new entrepreneur. The silver flecks in his thick hair convey photogenic authority. The high cheek-bones, […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, April 29th, 1992
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By John Helmer in Moscow The Russian Foreign Minister, Mr Andrei Kozyrev, will visit six Arab states of the Persian Gulf next month, in a move to obtain economic support in return for Russia’s political re-alignment in the Middle East. Mr Kozyrev will substitute for Mr Pyotr Aven, the Minister of Foreign Economic Relations, whose […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, April 29th, 1992
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Analysis By John Helmer in Moscow In the final hours of the Congress of Peoples Deputies last week, President Yeltsin signed a letter urging Congress to grant him unusual new powers to override parliamentary votes. Attached to the letter was the President’s legislative proposal, a draft law entitled “On the Government of the Russian Federation”. […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, April 28th, 1992
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By John Helmer in Moscow A month ago, the Russian Market Research Company released results of an unusual nationwide survey of householders, suggesting Russians are better off than they admit, and spend much more money than their official income. This has bolstered government claims that the economy has begun to turn around, and that prosperity […]

by John Helmer - Saturday, April 25th, 1992
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By John Helmer in Moscow The Peter Pan of Russian reform, Boris Nemtsov, went to battle this week with Captain Hook at the Railways Ministry. Reality won. Nemtsov proved petulance is not political magic. The railways are as natural a monopoly as Captain Hook was a blackguard. They are also, as the new Railways Minister, […]

by John Helmer - Saturday, April 18th, 1992
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By John Helmer in Moscow The Vice President of Russia, Mr Alexander Rutskoi, has defended the proposed constitution drawn up by the Constitutional Commission, and dismissed criticism that his differences with President Boris Yeltsin amount to a call for replacing the present government. Mr Rutskoi, who was elected with Mr Yeltsin in Russia’s first presidential […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, April 2nd, 1992
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By John Helmer in Moscow A new Russian trade strategy, announced this week in Tokyo, gives priority to the growth economies of Asia and the Pacific. The Tokyo presentation by First Deputy Minister of Foreign Economic Relations, Dr Sergei Glazyev, follows the visit to Beijing earlier this month of the Minister of Foreign Economic Relations, […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, March 18th, 1992
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