The Political Council of the ruling party, Yeni (New) Azerbaijan, yesterday issued a statement calling for a special session of parliament and a party conference to discuss the conduct of parliament chairman Rasul Guliev. The Political Council, without going into specifics, accused Guliev of placing... MORE

A congress is taking place in Grozny today which brings together about one hundred representatives of the various parties and movements that form the Chechen resistance. Pride of place will go to opposition political leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiev and military leader Aslan Maskhadov, who are to... MORE

Russia's Security Council's desire to intervene in Russia's ongoing dispute with Ukraine over the division of the Black Sea Fleet comes at a time of increased tensions in the Crimean peninsula. Pro-Russian parties failed yesterday to muster sufficient votes in the Crimea parliament to challenge... MORE

Managers of a several large industrial enterprises in Primorsky krai in Russia's Far East have appealed to Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin for financial support for the region's fuel and energy producers. They say federal support is essential to ensure that local enterprises have enough... MORE

As debate continues on Russia's draft 1997 state budget, tensions seem set to rise between the nation's regular armed forces and it's other "power structures," that is, those ministries and agencies that command their own military or paramilitary forces (According to a Russian legislator, Russia... MORE

Although he reportedly had all his documents in order, Russian ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky was detained yesterday by rump Yugoslav border authorities as he attempted to cross into Bosnia. Zhirinovsky had intended to take part in the election campaign of Vojislav Seselj, leader of the... MORE

Russian Communist party leader Gennady Zyuganov has denied a report that he may run for governor in one of Russia's "Red Belt" regions. (Nezavisimaya gazeta, September 10) Ukraine Concerned About Russian Intelligence Services.

The head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Lt. Gen. Aleksandr Skipalsky, told a Kiev press briefing yesterday that some major foreign intelligence services have recently intensified their activities in Ukraine. The danger comes from the services of certain countries which have not abandoned the illusion that... MORE

Russia's new minister for cooperation with CIS countries, Aman Tuleyev, outlined yesterday at a briefing his action program to promote "integration processes" in the CIS. Tuleyev called for: merging the member-countries' energy systems into a single CIS energy system through co-ownership arrangements between Russia and... MORE

Four years after the departure of Russian diplomats from Kabul, Afghanistan's president told Russian television viewers on September 7 that he would like to restore full bilateral ties with Moscow. A first step toward that goal, he proposed a restoration of a Russian diplomatic presence... MORE