According to Òa well-informed military source," the Russian Defense Ministry is considering a reduction of some 12,000 soldiers from the Airborne Forces. Plans announced last year to pare down the airborne troops triggered protests from many officers, including retired Gen. Aleksandr Lebed. The latest proposal... MORE

In a Fatherland Defenders' Day address, Belarusan prime minister Syarhey Ling came out against NATO's enlargement and declared Minsk's readiness to "defend Belarusan and Russian interests in the Western strategic direction" through "full-blooded military cooperation with Russia." However, Ling stipulated three conditions: "immutability of Belarusan... MORE

Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (CDTU) members yesterday picketed presidential administration and government buildings in Minsk, demanding legal registration. The authorities are denying the registration on the grounds that one of CDTU's constituent organizations was banned by a decree of President Aleksandr Lukashenko following a... MORE

At a meeting in Almaty over the weekend, representatives of Russian nationalist groups in Kazakstan decided to form a "national-patriotic bloc to defend the rights, lives, and national dignity of Slavs in Kazakstan." Accusing the authorities of "outrages," including "murders," allegedly aimed at forcing "people... MORE

An array of leftist and pro-Russian groups, centered mainly in eastern Ukraine's industrial centers, threw down a gauntlet to the government at a series of conferences and meetings over the weekend. In the city of Donetsk, the Civic Congress movement called on political parties and... MORE

Russian Security Council secretary Ivan Rybkin and Chechnya's new minister for foreign relations, Movladi Udugov, met for six hours in the capital of Ingushetia, Nazran, on February 21. Their talks, which were mediated by Ingush president Ruslan Aushev, were the first since presidential elections were... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin has intervened in a power struggle that has been ongoing for nearly a year in the Republic of Udmurtia. Yeltsin has given the republic's leaders ten days to obey a Constitutional Court ruling aimed at restoring the republic's elected local administrators to... MORE

The Russian Duma is taking steps to ban reporters of Russia's second TV channel, ORT, from its sessions. (AP, February 21) Parliamentarians are angry over the way ORT covered last week's debate of a bill banning the sale of pornographic material from public places and... MORE

An International Monetary Fund mission left Moscow on February 21 without recommending payment of the February tranche of the Fund's $10.2 billion loan to Russia. (Financial Times, February 22) In effect, this means the Fund is again delaying payment of one of its monthly tranches.... MORE

The Clinton Administration will submit to Congress a 31-page report concluding that NATO enlargement could cost up to $35 billion over the next 12 years, but that the U.S. contribution should equal no more than $200 million per year. The report foresees that new NATO... MORE