The governor of Russia's Primorsky krai, Yevgenii Nazdratenko, returned from Moscow yesterday saying he had persuaded the Russian government to bail the region out of its present payments crisis. The most visible feature of the crisis in Primorsky is a coalminers' strike which, over the... MORE

Meanwhile, the newspaper Izvestiya has just published a series of four articles portraying Primorsky krai governor Yevgenii Nazdratenko in a highly unflattering light. (Izvestiya, July 23-26) The series investigates the case of Viktor Cherepkov, who was sacked from his post as mayor of Vladivostok (capital... MORE

Italian and Russian treasury officials yesterday signed a cooperation agreement in Rome aimed at combating international money laundering. Under the accord the Russian and Italian security services will share information about financial markets, international exchange operations, and other capital transactions between the two countries. (Reuter,... MORE

Grigory Karasin, promoted over the weekend to the post of Russian deputy foreign minister, will deal with relations between Russia and the Asia-Pacific region, well-informed sources in the ministry indicated yesterday. Karasin, who had been serving as the ministry's press spokesman, refused to confirm his... MORE

Opening yesterday a policy conference of Russian ambassadors to CIS member countries, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin termed the CIS a "zone of vital Russian interests... not only economic but also long-term military-political interests. Russia's geopolitical location and economic and military power make it the center... MORE

With only a few exceptions, Russian observers have interpreted Boris Yeltsin's creation last week of a new defense agency, the Defense Council, as primarily a political move that will effectively counter-balance the authority of Aleksandr Lebed and his Russian Security Council. (Interfax, July 26, 29)... MORE

Russian human rights activist Yelena Bonner, widow of Nobel prizewinner Andrei Sakharov, is in intensive care in a Moscow hospital with heart problems. Bonner, 73, was taken to hospital from a country home early in the morning, but a relative told Reuters by telephone that... MORE

Interviewed in the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita, as cited by Russian media this morning, Chechen resistance leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiev states that he buried Djohar Dudaev with his own hands after a Russian missile attack killed the Chechen president. (Izvestiya, July 30). Yandarbiev's statement follows recent allegations... MORE

Moscow has expressed regret over yesterday's Chinese nuclear test, but the Russian Foreign Ministry welcomed Beijing's decision to join an international moratorium on nuclear testing. What China has said would be its final nuclear test came as international negotiators, reconvening yesterday in Geneva, renewed their... MORE

Ukraine has opened a facility for dismantling on Ukrainian territory the 130 ex-Soviet SS-19 intercontinental ballistic missiles which are still based in Ukraine. The SALT-I treaty requires Ukraine to eliminate those missiles. The elimination process includes dismantling the warheads, removing fuel from the missiles, removing... MORE