Meeting in Brussels, NATO defense ministers yesterday called on Russia to complete the reductions of tactical nuclear weapons it had promised in 1991 and 1992. The ministers were meeting as the Nuclear Planning Group, which does not include France. They also urged Russia to make... MORE

Serbian opposition leader Vuk Draskovic slammed Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov during a Russian TV interview on December 16 for Primakov's outspoken support of Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic. Draskovic accused Primakov of backing "the last Communist dictator in Europe," and said that the Russian minister... MORE

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) is evacuating the four UNHCR officials who have been working in the Dagestani village, Khasavyurt, on the Chechen border. They will be resettled in the Dagestani capital, Makhachkala. The decision follows the murder of six Red Cross... MORE

Col. Gen. Sergei Seleznev, commander of the Leningrad Military District since 1991, was one of 17 people killed when an An-12 military transport crashed yesterday soon after takeoff from an airfield in the Tver region. A four-engine turboprop aircraft, the An-12 is roughly equivalent to... MORE

Nikolai Kovalev, director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), said yesterday in Moscow that he agreed with the prosecutor general's decision to release retired navy captain Aleksandr Nikitin (see Monitor, December 17). Kovalev explained that "it would be politically disadvantageous for us to charge Nikitin... MORE

As of last night, Chechen rebel leader Salman Raduev had not released any of the 22 Russian hostages he and his men are holding somewhere on the Chechen-Dagestan border. Negotiations are being conducted by Russian deputy Security Council secretary Boris Berezovsky. He told Russian TV... MORE

Ukrainian deputy foreign minister Anton Buteyko stated at a Kiev briefing yesterday that Ukraine no longer rules out the possibility of a future application for NATO membership. Ukraine's decisions will depend on the Russian parliament's actions, Buteyko said, evidently alluding to the territorial claims recently... MORE

Aleksandr Lebed yesterday won his defamation case against Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov. The court found no evidence to support Kulikov's allegations that Lebed had been plotting a coup. No one had believed the allegations, though they served as the pretext for Lebed's ouster from his... MORE

Kazakhstan yesterday marked the fifth anniversary of its independence and the tenth anniversary of mass protests in Almaty against Moscow rule. Addressing the country, President Nursultan Nazarbaev stated that the December 16, 1986 demonstrations paved the way for the December 16, 1991 proclamation of independence.... MORE

Even as the Tajik ceasefire agreement was being signed, Col. Viktor Chesnokov of Tajikistan's Defense Ministry died of wounds sustained while commanding Tajik government troops in Tavildara. Maj. Gen. Aleksandr Chubarov, deputy defense minister of Tajikistan, praised Chesnokov for "faithfully serving the motherland." (Itar-Tass, Interfax,... MORE