Russian president Boris Yeltsin's "long-term policy guidelines with respect to the Baltic states," made public last week (see Monitor, February 13), have heightened security concerns in the three countries, but not intimidated them. Estonia's Foreign Ministry replied in a statement yesterday that it will continue... MORE

The Belarusan parliament yesterday confirmed Sergey Ling as prime minister. Ling, 59, a trained agronomist, previously served as chairman of the Minsk regional committee of the Communist Party of Belarus and Secretary of the party's Central Committee. As acting prime minister since last November, Ling... MORE

U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright begins two days of talks with Russian leaders today in Moscow. Albright, who just completed a tour of five European cities that concluded with a brief visit to London yesterday, has arrived in Moscow with the Western alliance seemingly... MORE

Boris Yeltsin used a Kremlin meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on February 18 to suggest that he is returning to a more normal working schedule and to restate Moscow's intention to raise its profile in the Middle East peace process. The meeting was Yeltsin's... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin has set up a commission to draft a treaty regulating Moscow's relations with Chechnya. It consists of eight members, including representatives from Russia's Security Council, Ministry of Nationalities, Finance Ministry, and Justice Ministry. Security Council secretary Ivan Rybkin heads the commission,... MORE

Kyrgyz president Askar Akayev, currently in Barvikha sanitarium near Moscow for a medical checkup, was visited yesterday by Gen. Andrei Nikolaev, commander of Russia's border troops. Nikolaev raised the issue of closer Russian-Kyrgyz cooperation in guarding the Tajik-Afghan border, as well as in implementing a... MORE

Turkmen president Saparmurad Niazov and chief executives of a Japanese consortium led by the Itohu company signed an agreement yesterday worth $400 million to build a polypropylene production complex in the city of Turkmenbashi on the Caspian Sea. The Japanese government is fully financing the... MORE

The Russian military leadership may be wary of the idea of converting to an all-volunteer force, but the present conscription system does not seem to be working either. In a briefing on February 14, a representative of the General Staff indicated that the Autumn 1996... MORE

On an official visit to Kiev, Kazakstani foreign minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev shared with Ukrainian leaders his concern that Kazakstan's membership in the CIS Customs Union (Russia-Belarus-Kazakstan-Kyrgyzstan) has caused a decline in trade between Kazakstan and Ukraine. The Ukrainian leaders and Tokayev shared the view that... MORE

The shadowy Georgian group "White Legion" has claimed responsibility for the recent series of guerrilla attacks on military and economic targets in Abkhazia. Interviewed in yesterday's issue of the Tbilisi newspaper Akhali Taoba, the leader of White Legion, Zurab Samushia, stated that his group is... MORE