Meeting in Dushanbe yesterday, the Military Council of Russian forces in Tajikistan concluded that Russian border troops, in cooperation with Afghan forces loyal to Kabul, have largely succeeded in interdicting the access of Tajik opposition forces to Tajikistan from their bases in Afghanistan. Moreover, Kabul's... MORE

Azerbaijani president Haydar Aliev yesterday told a delegation of the Russian Duma's Military Affairs Committee that Moscow should "abandon double standards" and uphold the principle of territorial integrity not only in Chechnya but also in the former Soviet countries. Azerbaijan supports Russia's territorial integrity, he... MORE

Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze yesterday told a Tbilisi gathering of refugee Georgian deputies of the Abkhazian parliament that Russia "can have its military bases in Georgia if the country's territorial unity is restored... We have already agreed with the Russian side that the [1994] agreement... MORE

The Armenian parliament yesterday voted 155 to 0 to lift the parliamentary immunity of eight opposition deputies, including presidential candidate Vazgen Manukian, whose coalition of five parties has claimed victory against incumbent President Levon Ter-Petrosian in the September 22 presidential election. Four of the eight... MORE

The stand-off between Russia and the West over NATO enlargement continued yesterday following talks in Norway between Russian defense minister Igor Rodionov and his NATO counterparts. On the positive side, Rodionov declared that differences over the alliance's plans would not keep Russia from continuing to... MORE

A spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in Moscow said yesterday that a spy case publicized a day earlier by the Russian media was an old one and had not caused any diplomatic fallout between Moscow and Washington. Representatives of the embassy were nevertheless reported by... MORE

. Today's issue of the Communist newspaper Pravda publishes a page-long list of the books that Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ordered from libraries in 1926. (AP, September 27) The titles include "Is Resurrection Possible?" "Jewish Ritual Murders," "Essence of Hypnosis," "Souls of Humans and Animals,"... MORE

Confusion over who if anyone is in charge in Russia deepened yesterday. Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin's assertions that he is running the country were ostentatiously undermined by Security Council secretary Aleksandr Lebed, who called a press conference to warn in apocalyptic terms that the country... MORE

Latvia's Saeima yesterday elected Alfreds Cepanis of the Owners' Democratic party (Saimnieks) as the new parliamentary chairman. Cepanis, whose left-of-center party is the single largest in parliament, was unopposed. He replaces Ilga Kreituse, whom Saimnieks recently forced to resign from the party along with her... MORE

Power workers in Primorsky krai in Russia's Far East ended their 12-day strike today when $30 million was transferred from Moscow to pay wages owed since the spring. Workers' representatives said they expected payments to start on Monday, but warned that they will resume their... MORE