International financial organizations and Western countries will provide $3.5 billion in 1997 to support Ukrainian economic reforms. Of this amount, $1.1 billion is to be granted by the IMF and $1 billion by the World Bank. The decision to provide the assistance was taken at... MORE

Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze told the country during a radio broadcast that the Russian border troops' recent seizure of the Ukrainian ship Almaz and its crew in Batumi, Georgia "amounted to piracy." Shevardnadze apologized to Ukraine in the name of the Georgian government for the... MORE

Turkish president Suleyman Demirel yesterday completed a two-day official visit to Kazakhstan on the fifth anniversary of the country's independence. (See Monitor, December 17) Demirel agreed to open a Turkish credit line of $300 million, on top of the $1.2 billion already invested by mostly... MORE

The Chechen government demands a share in the project to pump Azerbaijani oil via Chechnya to the Russian port Novorossiisk, a Chechen government representative identified as Eduard Hachukaev stated yesterday in Baku. He said that he had participated in talks with top management of the... MORE

In the midst of a visit to South Korea, Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma said yesterday that a possible Russian-Ukrainian conflict over Sevastopol "would be a grave crime against humanity." Also yesterday, the Russian Foreign Ministry's chief spokesman, Gennady Tarasov, stated at a briefing that Moscow... MORE

With the budget debate over and President Yeltsin still secluded at a hunting lodge 70 miles from the capital, the Moscow political scene is unusually quiet. But rumors have filled the vacuum. Speculation that Anatoly Chubais will lose his post as head of the presidential... MORE

On December 9 Russian president Boris Yeltsin signed a decree that will "transfer on trust" state shares in 5 coal companies (Bashkirugol, Vostsibugol, Krasnoyarsk Coal Company, Lenigradslanets, and Kakhasugol). Altogether, the five represent 27 percent of Russian coal production. The transfer of shares on trust... MORE

Three Russian oil companies--LUKoil, Zarubezhneft, and Nafta Moskva -- signed contracts on December 15 to purchase Iraqi oil, and are awaiting what is expected to be quick UN approval for the deals. The Russian companies anticipate being able to begin moving the oil by January... MORE

A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman yesterday slammed Primorsky krai governor Yevgeny Nazdratenko for the latter's' criticism of the ongoing demarcation of the Russian-Chinese border. Grigori Tarasov called the criticism "excessively emotional" and "demagogic," and warned that Nazdratenko was undermining implementation of a treaty that fully... MORE

Russian and Chinese officials yesterday signed the contract that will allow China to produce the Russian-designed Su-27 jet fighter. The Russians stressed that the process would be a long one and that China would likely not begin to build the planes for several years. Russia... MORE