A U.S. State Department spokesman yesterday denied Russian media reports that U.S. ambassador to Russia Thomas Pickering would soon wrap up his assignment in Moscow. The spokesman said that Pickering would remain in Russia until at least the end of the year and that his... MORE

Russian security supremo Aleksandr Lebed met yesterday in Moscow yesterday with Doku Zavgaev, leader of Chechnya's pro-Moscow government, to discuss the formation of an interim coalition government in the republic. Lebed expressed disappointment that Zavgaev had boycotted the congress of Chechen parties and movements in... MORE

There have been no reports of casualties in Chechnya in the past 24 hours though both sides have accused the other of failing to honor the August 31 peace accords. Russia's deputy internal affairs minister Valeri Fedorov accused the Chechen resistance of setting up their... MORE

Russia's Federal Security Service said yesterday that it has observed all relevant legal norms in its arrest and detainment of Aleksandr Nikitin, the retired naval officer charged with espionage for his participation in a study critical of nuclear waste management in Russia's Northern Fleet. The... MORE

A Mexican newspaper yesterday quoted an unnamed government source as saying that the country's armed forces intend to sign a contract soon for the purchase of 12 Russian Mi-8 helicopters. The source added that restrictions placed on the sale of U.S. military hardware to Mexico... MORE

Georgia and Germany have concluded an agreement on training 15 Georgian officers annually in German military schools. The German-funded program is supplemented by one for teaching the German language at the Georgian military academy. (Iprinda, September 7). Last week the Georgian parliament ratified a recent... MORE

Opposition candidates Paruir Hairikian (National Self-Determination Union), Aram Sarksian (Democratic Party), and Lenser Aghalovian (Artsakh-Hayastan movement) officially announced yesterday their withdrawal from the presidential race in favor of Vazgen Manukian (National-Democratic Union) whom they endorsed as joint candidate of their parties for the presidential election,... MORE

Estonian president Lennart Meri and the members of his parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee concluded at their regular monthly meeting yesterday that Estonia's chances of admission to NATO have declined recently, compared to the first years after 1991; and that NATO currently seems content to let... MORE

The defense ministers of Uzbekistan and Georgia, Col. Gen. Rustem Ahmedov and Lt. Gen. Vardiko Nadibaidze, yesterday told a joint news conference in Tbilisi that their countries would not join a CIS military coalition or common CIS forces. The ministers agreed with one another that... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin has rescinded a widely criticized presidential decree that was supposed to close off loopholes for tax evasion. (Itar-Tass, September 6) But critics said the decree itself was full of holes and that, by threatening depositors with double or even triple taxation,... MORE