After much huffing and puffing, the Russian Duma last week dropped its threat to impeach President Yeltsin and to vote no confidence in the Russia government. Instead, the Duma on November 29 merely urged Yeltsin to "reconsider" both his decision to withdraw the last two... MORE

An opinion poll conducted in Moscow on November 29-30 by the VCIOM polling organization found that 69 percent of respondents approved of Yeltsin's decision to withdraw the last two brigades from Chechnya. Only 16 percent disapproved, while 15 percent were undecided. (NTV, December 1) A... MORE

Chechen president Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, prime minister Aslan Maskhadov, and field commander Shamil Basaev have all officially declared their intention to run in Chechnya's presidential election, scheduled for January 27. (ORT, December 1) All three stand for Chechnya's full independence from Russia, but Yandarbiev is believed... MORE

Three recent incidents highlight the extraordinary steps Russian military aviation and its providers have taken to try and survive in the bleak post-Soviet economic climate. One is to sell Russia's top combat planes abroad. On November 30 Indian and Russian officials signed an agreement under... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin on November 28 vetoed the bill, approved by both chambers of the Russian parliament, on halting the partition of the ex-Soviet Black Sea Fleet and its coastal infrastructure between Russia and Ukraine. Yeltsin argued in his veto message that the bill... MORE

Ethnic Russian leftist and neonationalist groups from Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions have passed a resolution of no confidence in Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma at a conference held in Donetsk on November 30. Industrial managers, regional deputies, and representatives drawn from some 50 labor, political,... MORE

The Tajik opposition yesterday captured the district center of Garm, defeating superior forces fielded by the Internal Affairs and State Security Ministries. The opposition's successful operation, which was credited to Field Commanders Mahmadruzi Iskandarov and Mirzo Zieyev, also netted for it materiel and prisoners. The... MORE

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's policy planning chief, Ihor Harchenko, stated yesterday at a Kiev briefing that Ukraine may in the future seek to join NATO, depending on Russian claims to Sevastopol and on general European security trends. First Deputy Foreign Minister Anton Buteyko conveyed this... MORE

Russia yesterday welcomed an agreement between Iraq and the UN that will permit Baghdad to sell $2 billion worth of oil in order to buy food and supplies for the country's civilian population. In Moscow Russia's foreign ministry took some credit for conclusion of the... MORE

President Haidar Aliev yesterday named Arthur Rasizade as Prime Minister, a post that he had filled in an acting capacity since July. Rasizade, 62, headed the economics department of the Azerbaijani Communist party's Central Committee and was deputy prime minister of the republic during the... MORE