Nearly 100 members of both houses of Kazakhstan's parliament appealed yesterday to President Nursultan Nazarbayev to close down the Kapustin Yar, Saryshagan, Emba, Azgir, and several other military testing ranges rented by Russia in Kazakstan, which total in area more than 11 million hectares. Baykonur... MORE

The state monopoly Transneft, which runs Russia's oil pipeline system, has notified its would-be partners in Baku that it will not transport Azerbaijani oil through the pipeline to Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiisk via Chechnya. Transneft claims that last month's agreement to transport the... MORE

The supporters of newly-elected Chechen president Maskhadov say they intend to sue outgoing president Yandarbiev for slander. They allege the slander occurred when Yandarbiev accused the head of Maskhadov's campaign team of being an officer of the Russian special services. They are taking their complaint... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin yesterday promoted his hawkish Interior Minister, Anatoli Kulikov, to the rank of deputy prime minister and put him in charge of coordinating the fight against economic crime. Kulikov will retain his post as interior minister but will also oversee the tax police... MORE

The OSCE's reaction to the declaration of Guldimann as persona non grata has been low-key. The declaration was issued by the government of outgoing president Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, whereas president-elect Aslan Maskhadov has on many occasions expressed strong support both for Guldimann personally and for the... MORE

Chernomyrdin's warning on the dangers of NATO enlargement coincided with a new offensive by leading Russian political figures in which they have stated publicly why they think the alliance's plan to accept new members is a bad idea. Two leading reformers -- presidential chief of... MORE

Turkmenistan yesterday ceased relaying Voice of Russia radio broadcasts beamed to South Asia through Turkmen transmitters. Moscow is deep in arrears to the Turkmens for the service. (Interfax, February 4) Chernomyrdin Sounds the Alarm over NATO Enlargement...

Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, who departed Moscow today on an official visit to the U.S., will reportedly warn the Clinton Administration that NATO's enlargement plans could cause a backlash in Russia that will strengthen hard-line forces while undermining those -- like President Boris Yeltsin's... MORE

Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, a presumed future presidential candidate who has staked out ultra-nationalist positions on a number of foreign policy issues, suggested yesterday that Russia possesses sufficient military might to make NATO leaders think twice about expanding to Russia's borders. He also said that... MORE

The Council of the lower house of the Russian parliament has decided not to include on the Duma's agenda a number of Communist-sponsored bills aimed at giving parliament power to oust the president on health grounds. The Duma Council seems to have heeded a Kremlin... MORE