The coalition comprised of Ajar Supreme Soviet chairman Aslan Abashidze's All-Georgia Revival Union and Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze's Union of Georgia's Citizens won at least 72 out of 80 seats in the Ajar Republic's legislature in the September 22 election. The turnout was a post-Soviet... MORE

The chairman of the Council of Ministers of the unrecognized South Ossetian republic, Vyacheslav Gaborayev, was dismissed from his post yesterday by decision of the Supreme Soviet on the proposal of its chairman, Lyudvig Chibirov. The two are political rivals, and Gaborayev is regarded as... MORE

Armenian pro-opposition demonstrators last night attempted to force their way into the parliament building, which is also the seat of the Central Election Commission (CEC). The CEC is held responsible by the opposition for reported fraud in the September 22 presidential election. Security forces fired,... MORE

The leadership of Russia's national trade union confederation called yesterday for a nationwide warning strike to be held on November 5 to protest against wage arrears--"Russia's biggest social problem." Whether the strike goes ahead or not will depend on whether the call receives support from... MORE

Russia plans to give foreign investors unlimited access to its high-yielding government bond market. Last month, Russia eased restrictions to allow foreign investors limited access, but the liberalization now being planned will lift all restrictions on foreign investors, allowing them to reap the high returns... MORE

The first exercise of the recently created joint Ukrainian-Polish battalion is underway at the Nowa Deba testing range in Poland's Krakow military district. The exercise, code named Tatra-96, tests tactical coordination at the company level between units from the two countries. Drawn from a Ukrainian... MORE

A meeting of defense ministers and other senior officials from the U.S., Britain, North European, and Baltic countries, held on September 23 and 24 in Copenhagen, made clear to the Baltic states that their possible admission to NATO is being postponed. The main reason for... MORE

Russia joined the world's other four nuclear powers and an additional group of more than 60 countries in signing the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in New York on September 24. The treaty, which bars test explosions of nuclear weapons, has been under negotiation for... MORE

Moscow media are publicizing a controversy that pits Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev against the daily Izvestiya over the newspaper's publication of a letter allegedly addressed by Nazarbayev to his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov. In the purported secret letter, Nazarbayev criticizes the CIS customs union --... MORE

Owing to rising tensions in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze has canceled a visit to the U.S. and the UN scheduled for this week, according to presidential officials. Shevardnadze yesterday told the country on radio that the planned Abkhazian Supreme Soviet elections... MORE