Japan's cabinet remains opposed to giving economic assistance to Russia or to any third country for the purpose of developing the "illegally occupied" Kuril Islands, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said yesterday. Tokyo will also oppose any action that would imply recognition of Russia's administrative... MORE

A delegation of top Indian military leaders has arrived in Moscow for talks aimed at deepening military cooperation between the two countries. The delegation is said to want especially to facilitate India's purchase of Su-30 jet fighters, artillery systems, and naval vessels, an Indian Defense... MORE

The Gagarin aircraft factory in Komsomolsk-na-Amur has announced it has delivered 16 Su-27 jet fighters to China, using air force pilots from the Far Eastern Military District. Six of the planes were built at a sister plant in Irkutsk. Said to be the first export... MORE

The "Aviakor" joint-stock company in Samara sent its workers on forced leave until the end of the year because it has no orders for its Tu-154 jet airliners. They have not been paid since February. Aviakor was the only Russian aircraft company to sell any... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin has moved from the hospital where he had been staying since September 13 to the Barvikha sanatorium near Moscow. Doctors say he will be able to do more work in the sanatorium and take more physical exercise. Yeltsin is expected to undergo... MORE

On October 4 and 5, Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and other senior officials conferred in Kazakhstan's capital Almaty on joint measures to deal with the situation in Afghanistan following the military victory of the Taliban movement. Present were the presidents and "force ministers" of... MORE

Russia's Duma on October 4 adopted by 258 votes to 0 a special resolution calling for economic sanctions against Latvia in order to effect a "radical improvement in the situation of Russian-speakers." The Duma charged that the Latvian parliament's August 22 declaration on the Soviet... MORE

The parliament of Azerbaijan on October 4 ratified the country's contract with an international consortium to explore and develop the Shah-Deniz gas and oil field in Azerbaijan's sector of the Caspian Sea's continental shelf. Ratification had been held up for several weeks by deputies of... MORE

Latvian president Guntis Ulmanis told a regular session of the Baltic Assembly, held in Riga at the weekend, that Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania "cannot be made hostages to Russia's outdated perception of NATO as a threat" and "will never accept being regarded as part of... MORE

Russia's GAZ automobile plant is moving into CIS countries by establishing assembly plants in partnership with local firms which had previously functioned mainly as repair plants for Russian-made cars. GAZ joint ventures became operational and produced their first cars on October 4 in Chisinau, Moldova,... MORE