RUSSIA TODAY (1):

Vladimir Putin was elected Russia's next president, according to preliminary election results that gave him 52.52 per cent of the vote with almost all ballots counted, the Central Electoral Commission said today.

RUSSIA TODAY (2):

Russia is to undergo a shift in foreign policy following Vladimir Putin's election as president, Foreign Minister Mr Igor Ivanov said today, cited by ITAR-TASS. The minister made the statement after the first post-election government meeting chaired by the president-elect, the news agency said. "There will of course changes to Russia's foreign policy reflecting the new concept... examined recently by the Security Council," he said. "These modifications are linked to profound changes which have occurred in the world as well as in Russia's policy with the election of a new president," Mr Ivanov added. In January, Mr Putin signed a new security strategy devised by the Russian Security Council which allowed a broader use of nuclear weapons.

RUSSIA TODAY (3):

A Russian nuclear-powered submarine in the Barents Sea test fired a long-range ballistic missile early today, hitting its target 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles) away, ITAR-TASS agency reported. The agency quoted defense ministry sources as saying the missile struck two minutes later on the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia's far east. In November, the Russian navy successfully test-fired two Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missiles from a submerged submarine, one of them in the presence of Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin. With a range of around 11,000 kilometres, they will form the backbone of Russia's future defence strategy.

-- Risteard Mac Thomais (uachtaran@ireland.com), March 27, 2000

Answers

Doesn't sound as tho' the Russian Bear wants to go along with the West's version of the New World (Dis)Order, does it? How long now before Russian tanks AGAIN crush Hungary and (the former) Czechoslovakia -- as well as Poland.

Curious that the Bear still has plenty of money to launch new OFFENSIVE weapons systems, yet constantly comes begging for Western food scraps! Something is dreadfully wrong with this picture.

-- Beware (TheRussian@Bear.com), March 27, 2000.