The CIS summit rescheduled for January 29 has been postponed, Kremlin Spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky and CIS Executive Secretary Ivan Korotchenya announced over the weekend. The prime ministers' meeting scheduled for January 28 is similarly being postponed, Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin's office announced today. This... MORE

The lower house of the Russian parliament approved Russia's 1997 federal budget in its fourth and final reading on January 24. Communist deputies threatened to reject the bill up until the last moment, but when it came to the count the vote was 245/90 with... MORE

Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin has warned the movement he leads, "Russia is Our Home", not to be in a hurry to reorganize itself into a political party. Chernomyrdin said that, after their experiences with the Soviet Communist party, many members of the public are... MORE

According to Russian Defense Ministry officials, Georgia on January 20 stopped navigational servicing for Russian Air Force transport flights that supply the Russian troops stationed in Georgia. The flights were regularly landing at the Russian bases in Vaziani (near Tbilisi), Gudauta (Abkhazia), and Batumi (Ajaria)... MORE

While Russia's Foreign Ministry is still "preparing an official reaction" to Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov's recent appearance and statements in Sevastopol (see Monitor, January 20), presidential spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky told a Kremlin briefing that Luzhkov's actions reflect his personal position and "should not be confused... MORE

An investigation into the finances of Russia's Interior Ministry (MVD) has uncovered a wide array of questionable practices and led to the instigation of criminal proceedings against some 30 officials, Russian presidential spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky announced on January 17. Misappropriations of funds, he said, were... MORE

Kulikov also said on January 17 that the MVD's current troop strength is 230,000 and that the government should think carefully before making any cuts in those forces. (AP, Itar-Tass, January 17) Various military reform proposals now being considered by the Kremlin call for significant... MORE

The chairman of the State Duma's Budget Committee, Mikhail Zadornov, yesterday told a Moscow press conference that there was no article on the strength of the armed forces in the draft 1997 budget because the government would not tell the legislators how many personnel were... MORE

The OSCE is sending seventy observers to Chechnya for the January 27 elections. They will fly to Moscow tomorrow and continue to Grozny on Saturday. The biggest contingent is being provided by Switzerland, which is sending ten monitors. Norway and Lithuania are each sending six;... MORE

Valery Kokov, the newly-reelected president of Kabardino-Balkaria, was inaugurated yesterday in the republic's capital, Nalchik. He ran unopposed on January 12 and won 97.3 percent of the vote. President Yeltsin's chief-of-staff Anatoli Chubais and Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov were among those attending yesterday's inauguration. (Interfax,... MORE