Seventy-one percent of Moscow residents approve of Aleksandr Lebed's efforts to resolve the Chechen conflict; 13 percent are strongly opposed, and 16 percent have no opinion according to a poll of 1,305 people by the respected VTsIOM polling organization. Those with higher education, holding managerial... MORE

On September 18, Chechen opposition forces brought 31 Russian prisoners of war to the village of Roshni-Chu to be exchanged for rebel fighters held by the Russian authorities. Some of these Russian prisoners were earlier reported to have been killed in action; many have been... MORE

Latvia's parliament chairwoman, Ilga Kreituse, has been forced to resign from the Owners' Democratic party (Samnieks, the single largest in parliament) and is expected to step down from the parliament's chair. Her husband, Finance Minister Aivars Kreituss, who is a member of the same party,... MORE

Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev told a Tbilisi news conference, held jointly with Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze, that Kazakhstan would leave the CIS customs union "as soon as" it is admitted to full membership in the World Trade Organization. Regarding their countries' membership in the CIS... MORE

The inaugural session of the Russian-Moldovan intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation produced a debt-rescheduling agreement for most of Moldova's $430 million worth of debts to Russia, incurred mainly for fuel deliveries and owed mostly to Gazprom. Moldova agreed to repay the debt within seven years,... MORE

A statement issued yesterday after a meeting between the hospitalized president and his chief-of-staff, Anatoly Chubais, is being seen as the clearest sign yet that, if and when surgery takes place, Yeltsin will hand control of the nuclear button over to Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin.... MORE

The speaker of the Russian Duma has used the 96th conference of the Interparliamentary Union as a platform to launch a Cold-War style attack on the U.S. and the West. In a speech to assembled delegates in Beijing on September 17, Gennady Seleznev condemned the... MORE

The South Korean armed forces have decided to equip a motorized battalion with 30 Russian-made BMP-3 combat vehicles and with other Russian weaponry, Defense Ministry officials announced in Seoul on September 17. The decision, which is connected to a deal whereby Russia is supplying South... MORE

Russia and the U.S. have reportedly agreed upon several practical steps to advance technical cooperation in meeting guidelines spelled out in the 1995 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The International Atomic Energy Agency announced that U.S. energy secretary Hazel O'Leary and Russian atomic energy minister Viktor Mikhailov,... MORE

A ceasefire agreement, reflecting major gains by the opposition, went into effect yesterday in Tajikistan's Garm area, the main theater of military action in this war. Negotiated at the scene by Dushanbe's Security Council chief, Amirkul Azimov, with opposition commander Mirzohoja, the agreement provides that... MORE