Excerpts from cables ('92-'96) sent by U.S. Embassy political analysts which offer an early assessment of Yeltsin's strengths, weaknesses and challenges; the fractious democrats supporting Yeltsin; what might happen in the '96 elections; and the power of Russia's new oligarchs.

Joseph Stiglitz, former chief economist and vice president of the World Bank, lays out how Asia's 1997-98 financial calamity shared key characteristics with Russia's, "not least among them the role that IMF and U.S. Treasury policies played in abetting it." He discusses how Western economists not only lacked knowledge of the history and details of the Russian economy, but shut out open debate with other economists on the best economic doctrine to apply to help turn Russia into a market economy.

George Soros looks back on the West's failure to set up an open market economy and society in Russia in the early post-Communist years, the errors of IMF policies, his experiences observing the robber capitalism of the oligarchs, and his views on where Putin might lead his country.

This is the joint statement issued from a series of meetings held by the Council for Defense and Foreign Policy in Russia and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The summary offers analyses and recommendations for improving relations between the two nations. (Available in pdf format only.)

The site of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty offers this article examining the internet in Russia and signs that the government is planning to control the Russian segment of the web. At the end of this piece, there's a guide to the main Russian news sites online, with notes on their point of view and credibility.

Web site of The Moscow Times, a leading English-language paper.

This George Soros-funded organization has several projects in Russia including one which is helping to fight TB in Russia's prisons.

• Human Rights Watch Report on Prisons
  
• Human Rights Watch Report on Police Torture in Russia

(in russian)