Some 450 cubic meters of radioactive nuclear material is missing from a storage site in Chechnya, according to a report in the Sunday Times said to be based on official Russian documents. The paper disclosed that the material had been stored at the Radon factory... MORE

Managers of the French oil company Elf-Aquitaine and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) conferred in Baku over the weekend, finalizing a contract to develop the Lenkoran-Deniz oil field on Azerbaijan's Caspian shelf. The field's estimated reserves are 50 to 60 million tons. The... MORE

Gen. Klaus Naumann, chairman of NATO's Military Committee, conferred with Ukrainian leaders during a three-day visit. Talks focused on developing a NATO-Ukraine "special partnership," which was described as paralleling, but not rivaling, NATO's evolving relations with Russia. Naumann also renewed assurances that NATO does not... MORE

In Washington, the U.S.-Ukrainian Foreign Policy Committee held its inaugural session. It is co-chaired by U.S. ambassador-at-large for the newly independent states, James Collins, and Ukrainian deputy foreign minister Anton Butenko. A joint statement described the Committee as a "valuable mechanism for constructing a U.S.-Ukraine... MORE

Poland's foreign minister told reporters in Warsaw yesterday that he expects Moscow to unveil an alternative to NATO enlargement at the December OSCE summit in Lisbon. Darius Rosati said that he did not know precisely what the Russian proposal would contain, but he expected it... MORE

The Norwegian environmental group Bellona yesterday urged the European Parliament to pressure Russian authorities for the release of Aleksandr Nikitin, a retired Russian naval officer charged with treason. Nikitin has been in prison since February for allegedly leaking state secrets on environmental threats posed by... MORE

Russia's recently constituted Defense Council met on November 4 to discuss revisions in the nation's military doctrine. According to council secretary Yury Baturin, changes in Russia's geopolitical situation prompted the discussions. He singled out NATO enlargement and what he described as the efforts of outside... MORE

Rear-Adm. Aleksandr Dzhavakhishvili has resigned as commander of the Georgian navy because of "a serious disagreement" with the country's defense minister. The 64-year-old admiral had been the only chief of independent Georgia's navy. Previously he had served in the Soviet navy as a submariner in... MORE

As part of its campaign to increase revenue collection, the Russian government plans to deploy tax inspectors round-the-clock in liquor distilleries. Their job will be to ensure that plants do not sell alcohol on the side without paying the appropriate tax. (Interfax, November 6) Yeltsin:... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin this morning left the heart clinic where he had heart bypass surgery on November 5 and moved back to Moscow's Central Clinical Hospital to continue his convalescence. Yeltsin knows the hospital well and is said to be more comfortable there than... MORE