Russia's LUKoil announced yesterday that it will soon sign a $3.8 billion deal to develop Iraq's Western Kurna oil field. LUKoil is to have a 70 percent stake in the project, while two other Russian companies, Zarubezhneft and Mashinoimport, will each take a 15 percent... MORE

Interviewed in today's Nezavisimaya gazeta, Kazakhstani president Nursultan Nazarbaev comments that Russia has missed the chance to become the "CIS pivot" because of its "destructive policies which alienate potential allies." Nazarbaev calls for reforming the CIS and for changes in Russia's policy toward the "near... MORE

President Yeltsin's doctor, Sergei Mironov, says the president's condition has stabilized but that complications could still set in and that Yeltsin must remain in the hospital until the end of this week. He said the president caught a chill a week ago after visiting the... MORE

The White House yesterday denied that former Russian security chief Aleksandr Lebed has been invited to Washington to attend presidential inaugural events. Lebed made the announcement during a visit to Bonn, where he was to meet with parliamentary leaders of Germany's political parties. German chancellor... MORE

Although he confirmed that China has become a major purchaser of Russian weaponry, a top Clinton Administration official said on January 14 that the acquisitions had not reached alarming proportions. U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs Winston Lord also said... MORE

The chairman of the Kutuzovsky Bank was shot dead in Moscow on the evening of January 14. Yuri Repin, 40, received gunshot wounds in the head, chest and shoulder from two unidentified gunmen lying in wait near the entrance to his apartment building. There have... MORE

In an article he contributed to the official newspaper Nezavisimaya Moldova, Russian president Boris Yeltsin's special envoy, Vladimir Kitayev, writes that the 1990 Russian-Moldovan framework treaty on bilateral relations can be ratified only in a package with a February 1995 "supplementary protocol," which envisages joint... MORE

Azerbaijan's State Oil Company (SOCAR)and the French companies Elf-Aquitaine and Total have signed a contract to develop Azerbaijan's Lenkoran-Deniz and Talysh-Deniz offshore oil fields. The investment, projected at $2 billion, involves two deposits estimated to contain 80 to 100 million tons of oil at depths... MORE

The Belarusan opposition yesterday spoke out against Russian president Boris Yeltsin's plan to unite Belarus with Russia. (See Monitor, January 14) Popular Front supporters picketed Russia's embassy in Minsk with slogans protesting against "annexation" and proclaiming "we want to live in Europe not in Russia."... MORE

A source in Russia's Defense Ministry said on January 13 that the status of former Ground Forces commander-in-chief Army Gen. Vladimir Semenov would remain unresolved until president Boris Yeltsin recovers from his current illness. (Interfax, January 13) The original announcement of Semenov's sacking came on... MORE