A Russian news program on December 15 quoted Defense Council secretary Yuri Baturin as saying that Russia's military forces could be reduced to 1 million men from what he said was their current level of 1.5 million. (Novosti, December 15) Public statements on planned defense... MORE

A Russian scientist has told an international conference that alcohol is the country's main cause of premature death. Dr. Aleksandr Nemtsov said Russia has the highest alcohol consumption levels in Europe. To make matters worse, as much as 68 percent of total domestic liquor production... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin has reportedly issued a decree allowing citizens to carry guns and knives for self-defense. Use of the weapons is prohibited against women, minors, and those showing clear signs of physical or mental disability. (BBC World Service, December 16) Russian Defense Chief... MORE

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has suspended operations in Chechnya after unidentified gunmen shot and killed six aid workers sleeping in an ICRC building in a village south of the capital, Grozny. The aid workers were foreign nationals from Norway, Canada, Spain,... MORE

Despite a call from the Independent Miners' Trade Union to halt protest actions as of December 12, some 85,000 miners have reportedly not yet returned to work. The striking miners, many of them from the Rostov and Tula regions, continue to demand payment of wage... MORE

Azerbaijan and the members of an international consortium signed on December 14 in Baku a contract to develop the Ashrafi and Dan Uluzu oil fields on Azerbaijan's Caspian shelf. The consortium consists of the U.S. company Amoco with a 30 percent stake as project operator;... MORE

The Tajik government claimed yesterday that the ceasefire signed with the opposition on December 11 (see Monitor, December 12) was finally taking hold. On December 12-14 the opposition had continued attacking government units still trapped in Garm and Labijar. It had also captured government armor... MORE

The fact that such an incident could take place on the eve of the elections is confirmation of a split in the once-united Chechen resistance forces. When he was still Security Council secretary, Aleksandr Lebed asserted that only 30 percent of the Chechen resistance fighters... MORE

A Chechen Information Center opened in Warsaw last week. Representatives of the present Chechen authorities, including First Deputy Premier Khozhakhmet Nukhaev and Minister for Foreign Affairs Ruslan Chimaev attended the opening. Alla Dudaeva, the widow of the former Chechen president, was guest of honor. (NTV,... MORE

Former Soviet naval captain Alexander Nikitin was released from prison on December 14 after spending some 10 months behind bars. He had co-authored a report on problems with nuclear waste in the Russian Northern Fleet published by the Bellona Foundation, a Norwegian environmental group. Nikitin... MORE