In a televised interview on an NTV Sunday morning talk show, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested that the Russian government would be prepared to fulfill its obligation under the 1956 Joint Soviet-Japanese Declaration. This declaration, ratified by the USSR Supreme Soviet, called for a... MORE

On December 3-4 Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a summit with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has already gone to India to lay the groundwork for this summit (Itar-Tass, October 9). Putin's agenda in India comprises security and economics. Although... MORE

On November 9 and 16, the OSCE's Joint Consultative Group (JCG), meeting in Vienna, witnessed Russia's overt repudiation of its obligation to withdraw its troops from Georgia and Moldova. The 30-country JCG deals with issues related to the 1990 Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe... MORE

On November 10, the Central Election Commission issued the final results of the October 31 Ukrainian presidential election. The final tally gave challenger Viktor Yushchenko a slight lead of 0.55%. This edge was challenged by exit polls that gave Yushchenko a far higher lead of... MORE

The National Security Committee (KNB) has announced a major coup in its anti-terrorist operations. In a televised interview, the first deputy director of the National Security Committee, Vladimir Bozhko, disclosed that the security services have uprooted a network of al-Qaeda terrorist operatives in Kazakhstan. He... MORE

Colonel-General Yuri Baluyevsky, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, met with senior NATO personnel on November 15, taking part in working meetings aimed at resolving issues relating to interoperability between Russian and NATO forces. At SHAPE HQ Mons, Belgium, he met... MORE

On November 16, Russian border troops began the handover of sections of the Tajik-Afghan border to Tajikistan's border guards. The handover is regulated by the intergovernmental agreements on Cooperation on Border Protection and On Procedures for the Transfer of Border Units and their Property, signed... MORE

During the last week of October, about 400 local workers employed by Punj Lloyd Kazakhstan to construct a $40 million sulfur and gas-separating facility for TengizChevroil went on strike to protest their miserable wages. Workers complained that the Indian executives of the company had cut... MORE

The month-long confrontation over the disputed presidential elections in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia has claimed its first victim. Tamara Shakryl, 78, was a senior associate at the Institute for the Study of the Humanities, Abkhazian Academy of Sciences, and backed presidential candidate Raul Khajimba.... MORE

On November 12, nine days before Ukraine's presidential election runoff, Russian President Vladimir Putin flew to that country to bolster Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's presidential bid. During their day-long, amply televised visit to Crimea, Putin hugged Yanukovych, wishing him success in the election in several... MORE