Up to 15,000 supporters of Belarus independence and of its constitution marched through central Minsk in an All Souls procession which ended with a mourning rally at the Kuropaty mass graves on the capital's outskirts, where the Soviet NKVD executed thousands of Belarusans. Prominent parliamentarians... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin will not make his usual radio address this week in line with his doctors' recommendation to cancel all official activities in advance of his surgery. Yeltsin's doctors will meet Monday to set the date of the operation. (Interfax, October 31) Russian... MORE

Russia's new Consultative Council will hold its first meeting early next week, presidential press secretary Sergei Yastrzhembsky announced yesterday. He said the meeting will take place without Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznev, who is refusing to participate in protest against Boris Berezovsky's appointment to the Russian... MORE

Nuclear scientists in Russia called on the Russian government yesterday to take urgent steps to fund scientific research establishments. The call was in response to the apparent suicide of a leading nuclear weapons scientist, Vladimir Nechai. The 60-year-old Nechai headed Russia's second largest nuclear research... MORE

Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov, in the midst of a high-profile trip to the Middle East, assured Israelis yesterday that Syria is not preparing a military strike against them. Primakov visited Damascus earlier this week. Primakov, who has long placed the blame for the stalled... MORE

Just back from a four-day trip to the Balkans, Russian Defense Council secretary Yury Baturin said on October 30 that he favors increasing the number of Russian troops participating in any future international peacekeeping operation in the region. Baturin also called for an expansion of... MORE

The Japanese Self Defense Force wants to study a proposal that would allow Russian airline flights in and out of the civilian airport of Sapporo, on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. The airport is right next to a strategic military airbase and an electronic... MORE

Russian, U.S., and European aircraft producers, all attending a South Korean air show last week, were said to be competing intensely for a piece of Seoul's multi-billion dollar air defense modernization program. Reports described the McDonnell Douglas Corp.'s F-15E, Dassault Aviation's Rafale, Russia's Sukhoi Su-35,... MORE

The third IMF mission to Lithuania this year has concluded its work. IMF officials declared that no final conclusions will be drawn until a new government is formed by the Conservative party, which won the elections on October 20. A central topic in the discussions... MORE

Japan's Mitsui Corporation and associates have signed an agreement to modernize Ukraine's Kremenchug oil-processing plant at a cost of 20 billion yen (about $180 million). The project, credited by the Japanese state, represents the largest Japanese investment in Ukraine to date. (Western agencies, October 31.... MORE