On President Aleksandr Lukashenko's orders, voting in the constitutional referendum began on November 9, ostensibly for citizens unable to turn out on the officially scheduled date, November 24. The president's order came despite the fact that the draft constitution has not yet been finalized, much... MORE

Battling for reelection against Prime Minister Andrei Sangheli and Parliament Chairman Petru Lucinschi, an insecure President Mircea Snegur is multiplying threats to dismiss the cabinet of ministers and dissolve the parliament, by referendum if necessary. The Moldovan Constitution does not empower the president to take... MORE

Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosian was inaugurated yesterday to a second term of five years. The act prejudged the decision due shortly from the Constitutional Court, which is now examining the united opposition's case against official fraud in the September 22 presidential election. Those proceedings went... MORE

South Ossetian Supreme Soviet chairman Lyudvig Chibirov has won the first-ever presidential election in the unrecognized republic. Voter turnout was low, and ethnic Georgians boycotted the election. Chibirov received a narrow but absolute majority of the votes against five challengers in the first round of... MORE

Economic prospects have seemingly brightened for the small, landlocked nation of Kyrgyzstan. According to Kyrgyz economics minister Talai Koichumanov, growth in GDP this year could be a respectable 5 percent. (Interfax, November 11) Data recently released by the Statistical Committee of the CIS supports this... MORE

An explosion killed 13 people and wounded nearly 70 others attending a memorial service at a Moscow cemetery on November 10. The blast occurred during a graveside memorial service for Mikhail Likhodei, chairman of the Afghan War Invalids' Fund, who was himself killed by a... MORE

Sixty-two percent of Russians oppose the idea of giving Russia's regions and republics a constitutional right to secede from the Federation. In a poll conducted in early November by the VCIOM polling organization, 20 percent of respondents were in favor and 18 percent were undecided.... MORE

Following talks in Moscow with European Union leaders, Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov on November 8 called for the EU to play a greater role -- "not only in the economic sphere but in the political one as well" -- in Middle East peace negotiations.... MORE

A congressman from California has asked the FBI to join the Russian investigation into the murder of Paul Tatum, a U.S. businessman gunned down on November 3 in Moscow. (See Monitor, November 4) Republican Chris Cox warned that the Tatum case might be "swept under... MORE

It appears that Russian soldiers, sailors, and airmen are finally getting paid. Finance Minister Aleksandr Livshits has announced that military personnel had been paid their October wages and some of the money owed them for July. August and November wages are still to come. Deputy... MORE