Chechen Mufti Hajji Akhmad Kadyrov is to visit western Chechnya where two Russian Orthodox priests, kidnapped last week, are thought to be held captive by Chechen militants. (Itar-Tass, January 12) Kadyrov will appeal to local officials and Moslem clergymen for help in the search for... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin is reported to have proposed that Russia and Belarus should hold a referendum on some kind of unification. Presidential aide Sergei Shakhrai had earlier said this would be a fitting response to NATO expansion. (BBC World Service, January 13) U.S.-NATO Talks.

Although the Clinton Administration attaches great importance to the signing of a "charter" agreement between Russia and NATO, top U.S. officials reportedly made clear on January 9 Washington's insistence that NATO proceed with enlargement this summer regardless of whether that agreement is finalized by then... MORE

The Tajik government's rapid-response armored brigade, commanded by Col. Mahmud Hudoberdyev and headquartered in Korgan-Tupe (some 90 kilometers south of Dushanbe), yesterday arrived in the vicinity of Tursunzade (some 55 kilometers west of Dushanbe) and attacked the force of Kadyr Abdulloev, a local pro-government warlord.... MORE

South Ossetia's Supreme Soviet--People's Nikhas has passed a resolution stipulating that only those ethnic Georgian refugees who recognize South Ossetia's constitution and were not involved in the 1992 fighting may be allowed to return to South Ossetia. Such conditions for the return of ethnic Georgian... MORE

Uzbekistan's law on the operation of political parties, passed by the parliament on December 26, was published in the press on January 7, thereby going into effect. The most significant provisions of the law rule out the creation of parties on a religious or ethnic... MORE

America Online, the world's largest Internet service provider, has cut direct access for users in Russia because customers were signing on with stolen credit cards and passwords and using AOL services without paying. Rather than cut off service altogether, AOL has blocked local telephone access... MORE

Latvia's chief delegate to the Baltic Assembly, Ivars Kezbers, told a news conference that Russia's "democratic forces have prevailed" and the country has "definitely taken the path of democracy. But at the same time, democratic Russia has been at war since the first day of... MORE

The General Motors joint venture in the Russian republic of Tatarstan will be partially exempted from both a regional profit tax and from VAT, according to a resolution approved yesterday by the regional parliament. The tax breaks are to take effect once the president of... MORE

The Russian government suffered a defeat yesterday when Moscow's Arbitration Court rejected its attempt to bankrupt one of the country's largest car-makers, the Moscow-based AZLK. The Federal Bankruptcy Administration took the action in an effort to force AZLK, which produces the Moskvich car, to pay... MORE