. Boris Yeltsin's press secretary has again denied that the Russian president is too sick to undergo surgery. Yeltsin's doctor, Sergei Mironov, says the president's anemia is a source of worry but that he thinks it can be controlled. Mironov said he expected the operation... MORE

Russian finance minister Aleksandr Livshits has welcomed the October 14 recommendation by a Duma working group that the draft 1997 federal budget be sent back to the government and from there submitted directly to a joint government/parliament conciliation commission. Livshits said this should speed up... MORE

Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze told the country on radio yesterday that UN special envoy "Edouard Brunner's episodic visits do not contribute to the settlement of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict." (Interfax, October 13) Brunner last week publicly endorsed the Russian and Abkhaz positions against Georgia's (see Monitor,... MORE

In a report on Armenia's September 22 presidential election, the U.S.-based International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) concluded that "the electoral process broke down as the vote count started." The report, entitled "Flawed Election in Armenia," pointed to transparency violations, police interference, threats to candidates'... MORE

By 88 votes to 84, the Belarus parliament has turned down president Aleksandr Lukashenko's October 10 proposals. They had envisaged parliamentary endorsement of Lukashenko's dictatorial constitutional draft and its joint submission to a referendum on November 7, in return for a guarantee of seats to... MORE

The U.S.-Ukrainian Consultative Committee, which includes Zbigniew Brzezinski, George Soros, and top Ukrainian officials, convened on October 11 in Kiev to review the development of Ukraine's internal reforms and its relations with the West. The Committee made a number of recommendations. They included an intensification... MORE

But Russia's regular army is not the only military force demanding funds. Less than a month after the Defense Ministry produced figures demonstrating that it was the worst financed of Russia's "power ministries" (see Monitor, September 19), the country's Federal Border Service (FBS) on October... MORE

The good news for Russia's military personnel is that the government has promised to pay most of their back wages by the end of the year. The bad news for the Defense Ministry is that it will have to pay for this largesse from other... MORE

Chechen opposition leaders say they would be willing to sign an economic agreement with Russia, as long as it contained no mention of Chechnya as a subject of the Russian Federation. (Interfax, October 13) Ruslan Chimaev, foreign minister in the Chechen opposition government, told Interfax... MORE

Security Council secretary Aleksandr Lebed met yesterday with Dagestan's leader, Magomedali Magomedov. According to the official statement that followed the meeting, the two men discussed the situation in Chechnya, including plans to build a railroad through Dagestan bypassing Chechnya. (Interfax, October 14) Work on the... MORE