Stuart Goldman was the principal specialist on Russian political and military affairs for the U.S. Congress. He traveled frequently to Moscow during this period in a program of cooperation between his agency, the Congressional Research Service (CRS), and the Soviet, and later the Russian legislature. Gorbachev, and later Yeltsin, sought CRS assistance in creating a parliamentary research service for a restructured legislature. Goldman was the CRS point man on this project, which gave him access to senior officials in Moscow and an inside view of political developments.