In a coordinated exercise held last week to end the "Redut-96" test of Russia's strategic nuclear forces, the country's Strategic Rocket Forces (SRF), long-range Air Force, and Navy all launched strategic nuclear missiles. The SRF fired a "Topol" SS-25 ICBM from the Plesetsk test site... MORE

Kremlin intrigue deepened in recent days even as the Russian government seemed set at last to initiate a military reform effort that had been anticipated since Boris Yeltsin's election victory and the mid-July appointment of Igor Rodionov as defense minister. At a closed door session... MORE

Russian finance minister Aleksandr Livshits says that the Russian government cannot start financing the rebuilding of war-devastated Chechnya until the republic's political status is determined. (RTR, Interfax, October 5) If the government stuck to this position, it would undermine the Khasavyurt peace accords, which made... MORE

Russian parliamentarians threatening to reject the draft federal budget when it comes up for debate on October 11 have been warned by members of the pro-government faction that President Yeltsin could respond by exercising his constitutional prerogative to dissolve the Duma. (Nezavisimaya gazeta, October 5)... MORE

Russian authorities reopened cross-border traffic on the Azerbaijan-Russia railroad as of October 5, but with severe restrictions. Basically, only women and children are allowed to travel without special permission from Russian border guards. (Interfax, October 5) The railroad, as well as the highways which connect... MORE

According to official government statistics, consumer prices grew in Russia in September by 0.3 percent (in August, prices fell by 0.2 percent). Prices of foodstuffs (especially fruit and vegetables) fell 0.5 percent, though last month's fall was less than in August, when food prices dropped... MORE

Inhabitants of the northern regions of Chechnya, where the majority of Chechnya's ethnic Russians live, are collecting signatures calling for their districts to leave Chechnya and join Russia proper. Chechnya's Naursky and Nadterechny districts, which were part of Stavropol krai until 1957, launched the petition,... MORE

Russia's Communist-dominated Duma has called on President Yeltsin to bring Russian Public Television (ORT) under full state control. At present, the state owns 51 percent of ORT and 100 percent of Russian Television (RTR). Parliamentarians complain the TV coverage they get is too little and... MORE

Deputy prime minister Viktor Pynzenyk told the International Monetary Fund's annual plenary meeting in Washington that Ukraine's reform program needs greater support because of the country's low currency reserves and its trade deficit, aggravated by recent Russian protectionist measures. Kiev hopes that the donor and... MORE

The presidents of four Central Asian countries, accompanied by their defense and security ministers, are meeting with Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and other top Russian officials in Kazakhstan's capital Almaty today. The summit, initiated by Russia's hospitalized president (or in his name), will review... MORE