In Moscow today NATO secretary-general Javier Solana launched what are sure to be prolonged and difficult talks with Russian leaders. The negotiations are aimed at winning the Kremlin's acquiescence to NATO enlargement prior to the alliance's July 8-9 Summit in Madrid, Spain, at which new... MORE

Leonid Kuchma and Aleksandr Lukashenko met in Homyel (Belarus) on December 17, officially to discuss large-scale plans for expanding bilateral trade and economic cooperation. Russia-Belarus "integration" plans reportedly figured prominently on the agenda. (UNIAN, Interfax-Ukraine, January 17 and 18) The meeting appears to signal Kiev's... MORE

Azerbaijani president Haidar Aliev stated in a French press interview that his country's security forces intercepted and "neutralized" an armed group of ex-OMON special-purpose policemen who had crossed into Azerbaijan last month from Russia. The group had found a haven on Russian territory after the... MORE

Russia's ability to detect ballistic missile launches is deteriorating, according to Gen. Viktor Samson, chief of the General Staff. On January 17 he was quoted as saying that 60 percent of Russia's military satellites were over-age and that there were no replacements available. For several... MORE

On January 17 Colombian officials signed a contract with Russia's Rosvooruzhenie arms export company for the purchase of 10 Mi-17 military helicopters for the Colombian army. The deal, first announced last October, was said to be worth $42 million. Firms from several other nations were... MORE

Tatyana Chernova, the wife of former navy captain Aleksandr Nikitin, had her passport stamped "exit for permanent residence abroad" when she flew to Oslo last week to celebrate their daughter's 19th birthday. Nikitin had been jailed for 10 months on charges of treason for his... MORE

Gennady Dzen, 35, a businessman and aide to ultranationalist Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, died on January 17 when a remote-controlled bomb exploded outside his downtown Moscow office. The killing came only three days after the chief executive of a Russian bank was shot to death... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin's spokesman has said that the Russian leader will leave the hospital early this week, but declined to give a precise date. (UPI, January 17) A Moscow radio station said Yeltsin wanted to make his planned visit to the Netherlands early in February,... MORE

The western town of Tursunzade, along with its aluminum plant (Tajikistan's chief industrial asset), seems to be slipping out of the government's reach. A large crowd of local people yesterday blocked the path of a Presidential Guard unit that was attempting to enter the town,... MORE

Azerbaijani president Haidar Aliev has concluded his official visit to France on a sour note, quashing Paris' effort to accede to the co-chairmanship of the OSCE's Minsk group of countries, which mediates settlement of the Karabakh conflict. France's accession to the post had been announced... MORE