Russian and U.S. authorities have denied claims in the Russian media that the West has offered massive amounts of financial aid to Moscow if the Kremlin will acquiesce to NATO's enlargement. Those reports have alleged that the West is prepared to pay up to $50... MORE

Tajik army, internal affairs, and state security troops launched an operation on January 25 to seize weapons from local forces and the populace in the Uzbek-inhabited towns and districts of Tursunzade, Hissar, and Shahrinau in western Tajikistan. Ordered by president Imomali Rahmonov, the operation is... MORE

The law enforcement authorities of Azerbaijan have announced the arrest of some 40 pro-Communist and pro-Moscow subversives who were preparing terrorist acts in Baku as a prelude to a coup. The uncovered network is said to consist of supporters of the republic's former Communist party... MORE

The Internal Affairs and State Security Ministries have disarmed and arrested a group of supporters of the Moscow-based former chief of Georgia's state security, Igor Giorgadze. General Prosecutor Jamlet Babilashvili announced that the group was financed by "Georgians residing outside the country" and was "acting... MORE

At least portions of this revised strategy toward Eastern Europe appeared to be in evidence on January 24 when Russia's ambassador to the Czech Republic warned that Prague's entry into the NATO alliance could lead to a deterioration in trade relations between the two countries.... MORE

Russia's deputy foreign minister for Eastern and Central European affairs intimated yesterday that accession by countries of that region to membership in NATO could harm their broader relations with Moscow. According to Aleksandr Avdeev, the issue of NATO enlargement is raising tensions not only in... MORE

The results of Chechnya's elections are not yet in, but Viktor Ilyukhin, Yeltsin-foe and leading member of the Communist faction in the Russian parliament, has already denounced them as further proof of the government's helplessness to prevent the collapse of the country. "The results of... MORE

"One shouldn't take too seriously what the presidential candidates said in their campaigns about Chechnya seceding from Russia. Let the elections run their course, and everything cool down, and then we'll sit down and start working together," Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin said yesterday. (Interfax,... MORE

Reports from Chechnya indicate that Aslan Maskhadov received approximately 55 percent of the votes counted so far in yesterday's presidential election. The elections passed peacefully. According to the republic's Central Election Commission, 57 percent of the voters, or 255,000 people, had voted by 8 PM... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin returned to the Kremlin this morning for a meeting with Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. (BBC World Service, January 28) Like the half-hour office visit Yeltsin made to his office last week, today's visit appears timed to dispel speculation over Yeltsin's poor... MORE