Seeking to reactivate negotiations on fleet and border issues, Ukrainian foreign minister Hennady Udovenko conferred yesterday and today in Moscow with Russian Security Council secretary and presidential adviser for national security Aleksandr Lebed, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, and Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov. The talks apparently... MORE

The head of Aleksandr Lukashenko's presidential administration, Mikhail Myasnikovich, flew to Moscow yesterday for three days of scheduled meetings with his Russian counterpart Anatoly Chubais, prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, the deputy prime minister responsible for CIS relations, Aleksey Bolshakov, and with foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov.... MORE

This week, off the coast of Crimea, the Ukrainian navy is holding its first-ever major exercise, "Sea 96," involving 10 surface ships, anti-submarine helicopters, coastal artillery, fighter planes, air defense, and marine infantry units. Commanded by Vice Admiral Volodymyr Bezkorovainy, the exercise is designed to... MORE

Moscow media in recent days is replete with stories, apparently from off the record intelligence sources, about an allegedly imminent reemergence of president Djohar Dudaev in Chechnya. Intelligence officials are on the record refuting that scenario or, alternatively, claiming to possess intercepted information that a... MORE

While speculation and secrecy continue to surround the composition of the new Russian government, President Yeltsin has named three deputy heads of his presidential administration, to work under Anatoly Chubais. They are Yevgeny Savastyanov, Maksim Boiko, and Aleksei Kudrin. From September 1991 until December 1994,... MORE

The first of Russia's upcoming gubernatorial elections will be held on September 1 in Saratov oblast on the Volga. The region is part of Russia's pro-Communist "Red Belt" and voting results will be eagerly scanned to judge the success of the Yeltsin team's campaign to... MORE

Russian economics minister Yevgeny Yasin said that July consumer-price inflation is expected to be 0.7 percent (8.7 percent, at an annual rate), a continuation of the slowdown seen in the first half of the year. But he warned that inflation could accelerate again if structural... MORE

In a decree issued yesterday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin named the staff of Russia's post-election Security Council. The Council is chaired by Yeltsin and is Kremlin newcomer and council Secretary Aleksandr Lebed's main formal source of authority. The advisory body's permanent members include Prime Minister... MORE

Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov was quoted in a French newspaper yesterday as saying that Moscow remains "absolutely opposed" to NATO's eastward expansion so long as there is the possibility that it could bring NATO military structures near to Russia's borders. "What is unacceptable is... MORE

In an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov complained that some Western leaders refuse to accept that actions by Chechen rebels are terrorist in nature. Primakov cites as an example the recent bus bomb blasts in Moscow. (Reuter, Itar-Tass,... MORE