According to a senior Lithuanian diplomat in Vilnius, U.S. deputy secretary of state Strobe Talbott has presented to the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian ambassadors in Washington a comprehensive State Department draft plan to enhance the Baltic states' security. The Baltic Action Plan reportedly encompasses three... MORE

Russian and Ukrainian delegations headed by Economics Minister Yevgeny Yasin and Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Pinzenik, respectively, agreed after two days of talks in Moscow on a one-month deferral of Russia's newly introduced value-added tax on Ukrainian imports. The sides will use the deferral to... MORE

Voicing complaints identical to those uttered repeatedly by his disgraced predecessor, recently-named Russian defense minister Igor Rodionov told radio listeners yesterday that military reform cannot advance without increased defense spending. Pointing to this year's budget, Rodionov said that the Defense Ministry needs some 2 billion... MORE

The tragic crash of a Russian airliner on the Arctic island of Spitzbergen on August 29 killed all 141 people on board and momentarily strained relations between Russia and Norway. The Tu-154 aircraft slammed into the side of a mountain in bad weather during its... MORE

Yeltsin looked well enough in television footage of his September 2 meeting with Chernomyrdin, held at the hunting lodge 100 km (60 miles) north of Moscow where the president is on holiday. (BBC World Service, September 3) A Kremlin source was quoted as saying the... MORE

Russia's chief security official, Aleksandr Lebed, signed on August 31 a joint political statement and a document on Russia-Chechnya relations, following day-long talks with Chechen chief of staff Aslan Maskhadov and political leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiev in Khasavyurt (Dagestan). The OSCE's Chechnya mission chief Tim Guldimann... MORE

Russian leaders have been discussing the peace accord reached last week by Security Council secretary Aleksandr Lebed and Chechen military leader Aslan Maskhadov in the Dagestani city of Khasavyurt. Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin has met both with Lebed and with President Boris Yeltsin, but Yeltsin... MORE

A statement issued by Russia's Foreign Ministry, quoted by Interfax, calls the situation in the Gulf "extremely dangerous" and warns that the U.S. action could backfire. (BBC World Service, September 3) Russia's Finance Ministry Spreads its Wings.

The agency handling Russian diamond sales has been disbanded by presidential decree and its responsibilities assumed by the Russian Finance Ministry. Russia's stockmarket watchdog, the Federal Securities Commission, has been downgraded from a ministerial-level body to a state committee subordinated to the Finance Ministry. (The... MORE

Russian defense minister Igor Rodionov has accepted an invitation to attend an unofficial meeting of defense chiefs from NATO countries scheduled for September 25-26 in Norway. According to Russian diplomatic sources, the future of NATO IFOR forces in Bosnia will top the meeting's agenda. (Interfax,... MORE