The Autonomous Republic of Ajaria, a constituent territory of Georgia, held elections to its Supreme Soviet yesterday. Some 20 parties and organizations, most of them combined into several blocs, competed for the 80 seats. The incumbent Ajar Supreme Soviet chairman Aslan Abashidze's All-Georgia Union for... MORE

A delegation of the Islamic Development Bank, headed by its chairman Ahmad Muhammad Ali, completed yesterday a week-long tour of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan, where it attended conferences on investment in those countries and held talks with the countries' presidents. Under discussion was the... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin (or his office acting in his name) and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin openly endorsed Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosian for reelection in yesterday's presidential balloting. In messages aired by Armenian state media on election eve, the two Russian leaders wished Ter-Petrosian success,... MORE

During a two-day visit to Kiev, the secretary-general of the Western European Union, Jose Cutileiro, conferred with Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma, Foreign Minister Hennady Udovenko, and other officials on establishing cooperation between the WEU and Ukraine. In what was described as the first-ever joint communiquŽ... MORE

Over one hundred power workers in Primorsky krai in Russia's Far East called off a 16-day hunger strike last week, after krai governor Yevgeny Nazdratenko promised that they would soon be paid their wage arrears. (Financial Times, September 20) However, a far larger number of... MORE

President Lennart Meri on September 20 narrowly won reelection to a second five-year term in the second of two rounds of balloting by Estonia's electoral college. In the runoff Meri received 196 votes, i.e., 8 votes over the minimum required for election. Meri's main challenger... MORE

A coal miner in the western Siberian town of Anzhero-Sudzhensk has blown himself up with a grenade. Local police say they do not know why 32-year-old Vladimir Germanov took his own life, but did not rule out the possibility that he acted out of desperation... MORE

Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) and the Russian oil giant LUKoil have agreed to set up a joint venture -- Lukarco. (Wall Street Journal, September 20) The agreement goes beyond earlier deals between Russian and western oil companies, which to date have resulted only in preliminary agreements.... MORE

Subject to referendums, Russia's second city, St. Petersburg, and the surrounding Leningrad oblast will unite in a single administrative unit in 2001. (ORT, September 22) Perry Links NATO Nukes to Russian Arsenal.

U.S. defense secretary William Perry suggested on September 21 that informal assurances by NATO that it would not station nuclear warheads on the territories of new member states could be reconsidered if Moscow does not destroy more of its own tactical nuclear weapons. Speaking to... MORE