Boris Yeltsin today made his first radio address to the nation since being hospitalized with double pneumonia at the beginning of the year. The Russian president spoke briefly about Chechnya, saying there could be "no unilateral decisions" on the republic's status. In other words, Moscow... MORE

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady Tarasov stated yesterday that Moscow "can only agree with" Turkmenistan's recent statements disputing Azerbaijan's jurisdiction of the Azeri and Chirag offshore oil fields. Their inclusion in Azerbaijan's multibillion contract with an international consortium represents a "unilateral action violating the interests... MORE

Russia has reportedly given categorical assurances to India that it will follow through on a deal to supply New Delhi with nuclear reactors, despite U.S. opposition to the sale. An Indian newspaper on February 12 quoted Foreign Minister Inder Kumar Gujral as saying in Moscow... MORE

According to the chairman of the State Duma’s subcommittee for the military-industrial complex, the Russian government is selling off its strategic stockpile of rare metals. Stepan

Tiit Vahi, prime minister of Estonia since 1995, announced yesterday his intention to resign. Support for Vahi in his own Coalition party and the Rural People bloc, allies in a minority government, unraveled after Vahi barely survived a no confidence motion amid corruption allegations. (See... MORE

The Latvian parliament yesterday voted confidence in the country's new government by a margin of 70 to 17. Prime Minister Andris Skele, whose resignation had brought down the government last month, was mandated by President Guntis Ulmanis to form the new government, whose composition resembles... MORE

A deputy director of the Rosenergoatom company said yesterday that three new nuclear reactors are expected to be commissioned in Russia within the next few years. According to the official, construction work at the Rostov, Kalinin, and Kursk nuclear plants is more than 50 percent... MORE

President Yeltsin has told deputy premier Anatoli Kulikov, who is also minister of internal affairs, to carry out "stringent measures" to crack down on tax evasion and other forms of economic crime, Kulikov said after meeting with the president yesterday. (Interfax, February 13) Kulikov was... MORE

According to yesterday's issue of Golos Vostochnogo Turkestana, Uighur demonstrators clashed with Chinese army and police February 3-5 in Yining town, situated close to Kazakstan in China's Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region. The newspaper cited casualty estimates of 70 killed and hundreds of wounded on both sides.... MORE

On the third leg of his tour, Solana held talks with the Armenian leaders yesterday in Yerevan. The atmosphere was distinctly cooler and the reports sparser than was the case during Solana's visits to Moldova and Georgia (see Monitor, February 12, and item above). Foreign... MORE