An estimated 50,000 to 100,000 supporters of Armenia's opposition rallied in central Yerevan on October 25, and opposition leaders called a follow-up rally for November 1. The rallies are meant to support the five-party opposition coalition's petition to the Constitutional Court to annul the September... MORE

In retaliation for the introduction of presidential guard checkpoints in the area, Tajik opposition fighters on October 24 captured 37 Interior Ministry troops near the district center Komsomolabad. The opposition demands an immediate withdrawal of those checkpoints as the main condition for releasing the prisoners.... MORE

Foul weather prevented several VIPs from flying to Severodvinsk over the weekend to take part in the keel-laying of a new class of strategic missile submarine, so the event has been postponed for one week. First Deputy Defense Minister Andrei Kokoshin, one of those who... MORE

In separate, virtually identical interviews with a Moldovan weekly and a Russian news agency, Moldovan president Mircea Snegur warned that he would seek to dismiss the government ("the biggest evil") and to dissolve the parliament ("from which nothing can be expected any longer") if he... MORE

President Mintimer Shaimiev of Tatarstan has reacted angrily to threats by the Russian government that could bankrupt two companies based on the territory of his republic. Tatarstan enjoys substantial autonomy within the Russian Federation and is one of only a handful of Russian regions that... MORE

Russian defense minister Igor Rodionov warned on October 25 that chronic under-financing has created a crisis situation in the armed forces and intimated that it could lead to a loss of political control over Russia's soldiers. On a day when President Boris Yeltsin called for... MORE

Elections for governor were held in six Russian regions yesterday. Though final results are not yet in, the voting in the economically and strategically important Krasnodar krai in southern Russia has already been declared invalid. This means that hawkish incumbent Nikolai Yegorov, who until June... MORE

The Russian government presidium last week said it would set aside 9.3 trillion rubles for the troubled aircraft industry, but a Duma deputy cautioned that the money would have to be "squeezed out" of the new 1997 budget. Nikolai Gonchar said that -- if the... MORE

In an October 26 statement, Russia's Foreign Ministry described Karabakh's decision to hold a presidential election next month as a contravention of an OSCE decision stipulating that the election can only be held after the determination of Karabakh's political status. The statement also criticized the... MORE

Back in Moscow after a weekend visit to the north Caucasus, President Yeltsin's new security chief and envoy to Chechnya, Ivan Rybkin, said his talks with Chechen leaders were "very productive" and that both sides wanted peace. (BBC, October 28) This was Rybkin's first meeting... MORE