Pavel Felgengauer, military analyst for the Russian daily Segodnya, has quoted U.S. secretary of defense William Perry as saying during an interview that: "The Baltic States are not ready to join NATO. These countries simply do not meet the alliance's standards, which call for developed... MORE

Addressing a 6,000-strong, official Assembly of the Belarus People in Minsk on October 18 and 19, President Aleksandr Lukashenko unveiled a more confrontational version of his plan to seize absolute power. Lukashenko announced or implied that his constitutional draft would: institutionalize the hand-picked Assembly as... MORE

While the first voyage of the nuclear-powered battle cruiser "Petr Veliky" was a short one, it was not lacking in controversy: the Latvian president said the ship's presence in the waters off his country reinforced Latvia's determination to join NATO, a Swedish fighter crashed while... MORE

The shake-up in Russia's High Command continued on October 18 as General Staff chief Mikhail Kolesnikov was replaced by Viktor Samsonov. The two Army Generals may, in fact, be exchanging posts. Samsonov had overseen coordination of CIS military forces since 1993, and reports indicated that... MORE

Meanwhile, Chechen opposition leaders pressed ahead with the construction of new state institutions. They announced that presidential and parliamentary elections will be held on January 27, and that, until then, Aslan Maskhadov will act as prime minister and defense minister. They stressed that international observers,... MORE

Former vice president Aleksandr Rutskoi has been overwhelmingly elected governor in Russia's Kursk oblast. Provisional results of yesterday's election give him 77 percent of the vote. (Radio Liberty, October 21) Kursk, on the Ukrainian border, is part of Russia's "Red Belt" and Communist candidate Aleksandr... MORE

President Yeltsin has dismissed Aleksandr Lebed from his final remaining post -- presidential envoy to Chechnya -- and appointed Ivan Rybkin as Security Council secretary and chief negotiator with Chechnya. Yeltsin's spokesman said the president has not yet decided whether it is "worth while" appointing... MORE

Chechen opposition leaders, who initially warned that Lebed's dismissal could lead to a deterioration of the situation in the breakaway republic, reacted cautiously to news of Rybkin's appointment. They welcomed Rybkin's statement that he is committed to a peaceful settlement of the Chechen conflict, and... MORE

On the evening of October 17 Russian Customs officials in St. Petersburg confiscated some 1500 copies of a report, produced by the Oslo-based environmental group Bellona, on nuclear hazards and Russia's Northern Fleet. The confiscation appeared to be another attempt to intimidate those Russians associated... MORE

The Russian aircraft industry will not build even 20 planes this year despite a capacity to produce nearly 200, according to First Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Bolshakov. He said that a draft resolution to help the industry was being prepared. It includes a limitation on... MORE