A group of Russian generals and admirals, chaired by Duma Defense Committee chairman Gen. (retired) Lev Rokhlin, held a press conference in Moscow yesterday to publicize a two-month old statement by senior officers from around the world that calls for scrapping nuclear weapons. The document... MORE

Oleg Sidorenko, the deputy general director of the state-owned Rosvooruzheniye arms exporting company, predicted yesterday that within 3 to 4 years Russia might surpass the U.S. as the world's leading arms exporting country. (Interfax, December 4) Indeed, Russia already holds the top ranking when only... MORE

Russia's Federation Council yesterday adopted, by a margin of 110 to 14 with 7 abstentions, a statement and a resolution claiming Ukraine's city of Sevastopol for Russia. The statement refers to Sevastopol as "part of Russia's territory," accuses Ukraine of "aiming to tear it away,"... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin has left the Barvikha sanitarium and returned to his own residence nearby. Doctors say he could be back at work by the end of this month. Yesterday, Yeltsin met with Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin to discuss the ongoing coal miners' strike.... MORE

In its annual report issued yesterday, the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch accuses western nations of putting profits before human rights. Citing Chechnya as one example, the group said that: "The most disturbing trend that we saw in the last year was that the major powers... MORE

A Russian daily suggested on November 30 that talks on military intelligence operations directed against the U.S. were high on the agenda of a recent visit by a Russian military delegation to Cuba. The group, which completed its four-day stay on December 3, was headed... MORE

Russia's finance minister announced yesterday that the government had transferred 900 billion rubles to the Defense Ministry to cover the army's November wages. Funding for the army's December wages, and to cover payment arrears from October, will soon be forthcoming, but annual bonuses for 1996... MORE

The Russian Defense Ministry has created its own press service in order to implement "a single information policy by the Defense Ministry" and improve "the efficiency of work with the Russian and foreign mass media." The new service is headed by Col. Viktor Baranets, a... MORE

A court in the Kazakh city of Ust-Kamenogorsk yesterday began the trial of 18 suspects, mostly employees of the Ulba Metallurgical Complex, in a spectacular case of theft involving radioactive and rare metals. Three of the accused were said to have been caught en route... MORE

Russia's Far Eastern Military district has been storing its obsolete ammunition on islands in the southern Kuril chain claimed by Japan. The district's commander said on December 4 that his men had begun to destroy old mines and shells on Iturup Island. In all, more... MORE