Norway has agreed to grant more than $15 million in aid to Russia for joint efforts aimed at cleaning up the Russian Northern Fleet's nuclear wastes, Deputy Atomic Energy Minister Nikolai Yegorov said on September 1. The draft agreement, which needs still to be reviewed... MORE

According to Russian defense industries minister Zinovy Pak, the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the fracturing of its metallurgical complex has left Russia drastically short of specialized materials needed for defense production. Ukraine's independence has dealt an especially crippling blow to Russia's military industries,... MORE

German chancellor Helmut Kohl's September 7 visit to Moscow will be a short one, Russian diplomatic sources indicated yesterday. The German Chancellor is scheduled to arrive in Moscow around noontime and to depart less than eight hours later. Russian sources also emphasized that Kohl's scheduled... MORE

Moscow toughened its criticism of the U.S. yesterday following a second U.S. cruise missile attack on targets in Iraq. Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov called the U.S. action "an extremely negative event" and vowed that Moscow would derail passage of a draft resolution, offered by... MORE

The rate of inflation in Russia fell last month for the first time since market reforms were launched in 1992. According to government data, prices fell 0.2 percent in August, compared with a rise of 0.7 percent in July. The fall was due to a... MORE

Russian national security adviser Aleksandr Lebed returned to Chechnya today, five days after signing the Khasavyurt peace accords with Chechen military leader Aslan Maskhadov. On arriving in Grozny, Lebed said he had come to ensure implementation of the provisions of the peace agreement, including the... MORE

The defense ministers of Armenia and Bulgaria, Vazgen Sarkisian and Dimiter Pavlov, signed September 2 in Yerevan an agreement on bilateral military cooperation. According to initial reports the agreement covers deliveries of military equipment, joint programs in military industry, unspecified research work, and officers' training.... MORE

Returning from a three-day visit to Kiev, Georgian foreign minister Irakli Menagarishvili told a Tbilisi briefing that he had proposed the deployment of Ukrainian peacekeepers in Abkhazia. He said Ukraine is prepared to send ceasefire monitors to Abkhazia, and would also send peacekeeping troops if... MORE

According to the Russian military command, armed detachments of supporters of pro-Moscow Chechen leader Doku Zavgaev are forming in the Nadterechny (Zavgaev's native region) and Urus-Martan districts of Chechnya. Their stated aim is to defend the area from possible assaults by "Dudaevist" forces. (Interfax, September... MORE

On September 2 Ukraine officially introduced its national currency, the hryvna. As of yesterday all disbursements by state organizations were reportedly being made in the new currency. Under an August 25 presidential decree on currency reform, the hryvna replaces the karbovanets, the provisional currency unit... MORE