A congress of 300 delegates representing 20 Chechen parties and movements was held in Grozny yesterday to discuss the formation of the provisional government that will administer the republic until elections are organized. (RTR, September 10) There was almost unanimous approval of the Khasavyurt peace... MORE

A recent decision by Russia's largest airline, Aeroflot, to buy 10 U.S.-made Boeing-737 passenger planes has triggered an angry response in the capital city of Tatarstan, where the struggling Kazan aircraft production works manufactures Tupolev airliners. On September 9 the prime minister of Tatarstan, Farid... MORE

Russia's Foreign Ministry yesterday reaffirmed Moscow's support for the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty and its intention to sign the treaty should it be passed by the UN General Assembly. The UN vote was scheduled to take place yesterday. (Itar-Tass, September 10) Did Chernomyrdin Persuade... MORE

Sergei Parkhomenko, editor of the weekly magazine Itogi which published an interview with Boris Yeltsin on Monday, says that initially the Russian president refused to have heart surgery. Parkhomenko believes it was Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin who changed his mind. "He must have told Yeltsin:... MORE

An application by former Russian vice-president Aleksandr Rutskoi to register as a candidate in the gubernatorial election in his native Kursk oblast has been turned down by local officials. (Interfax, September 10) Election rules state that candidates must have lived in the oblast for at... MORE

The prime ministers of Latvia and Lithuania were reported yesterday to have moved close to compromise in which the starting point for delimiting the maritime border between their countries would be the Kurisches Haff / Kursiu Spit. At stake is an area believed to contain... MORE

A bilateral Ukrainian-British military exercise, code-named Cossack Steppe, is underway this week at Yavoriv training grounds near Lviv in southwestern Ukraine. The company-level exercise, involving Royal Welsh Fusiliers and a Ukrainian mechanized unit, includes tactical maneuvers, artillery fire, grenade throwing, and mountain training A Ukrainian-Polish... MORE

A Russian daily yesterday reported that Kremlin officials view U.S. secretary of state Warren Christopher's September 6 speech, in which he said that new members should be invited to join NATO in spring or early summer of 1997 (see Monitor, September 9), as a vindication... MORE

Kazakhstan's defense minister, Col. Gen. Alibek Kasymov, signed in Ankara last week a military-industrial cooperation agreement and a protocol on military training with Turkish defense minister Turhan Tayan. Turkish officials said the military-industrial agreement covered the same topics as the one already signed by Turkey... MORE

Belarus media yesterday quoted President Aleksandr Lukashenko as saying that he had paid a visit to Moscow on September 7 and held talks in separate sessions with Russian president Boris Yeltsin, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, National Security Adviser Aleksandr Lebed, Defense Minister Igor Rodionov, Foreign... MORE