President Boris Yeltsin signed an order yesterday relieving his former chief bodyguard and drinking buddy, Lt. Gen. Aleksandr Korzhakov, of all his military duties. (AP, October 27) Yeltsin sacked Korzhakov in June; since then, Korzhakov has fueled Yeltsin's anger by forming an alliance with ousted... MORE

It has been revealed that when Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and Presidential Chief-of-Staff Anatoly Chubais made their unusual visit to the headquarters of the Federal Security Service last week, they enlisted the help of the security police in tracking down businesses that owe substantial tax... MORE

Russia's Duma on October 25 issued an appeal to the U.N., the OSCE, the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, and the North Atlantic Assembly, as well as to the parliaments of the CIS, Eastern European, and NATO countries that expressed profound concern over NATO's planned... MORE

Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov arrives in Syria today to begin a trip that will also take him to Lebanon, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and the self-ruled Palestinian territories. Moscow has described the tour as part of an effort to reactivate Russia's role in the region.... MORE

A government directive issued on Saturday specifies that all Russian soldiers on international peacekeeping missions must be volunteers and must sign a contract for the tour. The Defense Ministry must pay the costs of the peacekeeping forces out of its regular budget. (Interfax, October 26)... MORE

During a meeting on October 24, President Yeltsin's new security chief and envoy to Chechnya, Ivan Rybkin, and Ingush president Ruslan Aushev issued a joint call for an immediate amnesty for those who fought on the side of the Chechen opposition. (Itar-Tass, October 24) Earlier,... MORE

Ukrainian officials are offering vague and contradictory explanations for the October 23 resignations of naval commander-in-chief Volodymyr Bezkorovayny, his first deputy and chief of staff Mykola Kostrov, and deputy commander-in-chief Oleksy Ryzhenko. Two of the three admirals were said to have cited medical reasons for... MORE

With no votes against and no sign of dissent, Russia's Duma yesterday adopted an address to the Ukrainian parliament that made a direct claim to Sevastopol and, obliquely, to Crimea. The document argues that the Russian Federation is legal heir to the Russian Empire's and... MORE

Kuchma stated after the meeting that Kiev's "sole wish" at this point is for Yeltsin to make a quick recovery so that he can sign the Russian-Ukrainian framework treaty on good-neighborly relations once the fleet dispute is resolved. "Ukraine's political elite wishes to resolve this... MORE

Yesterday's talks between Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kuchma produced a demonstration of Ukraine's willingness to settle the Black Sea Fleet dispute even at the cost of additional concessions to Russia. The hospital-ward meeting, limited to a half-hour and partly devoted to expressions of good... MORE