Belarus president Aleksandr Lukashenko yesterday complained to a gathering of economic managers that Russia has been behaving "extremely incorrectly over the last year and a half" by failing to implement bilateral economic agreements and the CIS customs union treaty. According to Lukashenko, Moscow is "grossly... MORE

Russia's new defense minister, Col. General Igor Rodionov, is on record as calling for restricting the Baltic states' independence in matters of foreign policy and security. Baltic researchers have found an article by Rodionov in a leading Russian military journal listing six priorities for Russia's... MORE

Russia's two main political camps yesterday announced plans to strengthen ties with "compatriots in the near abroad." An official of president Boris Yeltsin's staff told an interviewer that the president has ordered the creation of a government body responsible for Russians in ex-Soviet republics. Those... MORE

Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov met yesterday in Jakarta with President Suharto of Indonesia, and held separate consultations with counterparts from Japan and India. Suharto urged that relations with Russia be developed both at the bilateral level and under the aegis of the Association of... MORE

Churchill likened the study of Russian politics to watching dogs fighting under a blanket: you knew who was winning only when a dead body was tossed out. The evidence of a split in the far left was clear yesterday, when Viktor Anpilov was sacked as... MORE

U.S. secretary of state Warren Christopher told reporters yesterday that he would raise the issue of Chechnya with his Russian counterpart, Yevgeny Primakov, during talks between the two scheduled for today in Jakarta. The two men are in the Indonesian capital for the annual meeting... MORE

Maj.-General Vladimir Shamanov, commander of Russian Defense Ministry troops in Chechnya, outlined yesterday a plan to force the Chechen resistance into mountain areas above the tree line, and then to destroy the exposed fighters from the air. The execution of such a plan would necessarily... MORE

The International Monetary Fund has announced that it is delaying payment of the latest monthly tranche of its $10.2 billion extended Fund facility loan to Russia. It says it expects payment of the latest tranche, worth $340 million, to be delayed only a few weeks.... MORE

The Central Bank has stripped the troubled Tver Universal Bank of its right to conduct banking operations. (Interfax, July 22) Observers fear that the failure of this bank may herald a wider banking crisis. Paris Backs Early NATO Entry for Czech Republic.

France's defense minister said in Prague yesterday that, despite Russian objections, Paris supports the Czech Republic's entry into NATO "at the earliest possible time." (Reuter, July 22) In general, French leaders have shown great sympathy for Russian concerns on the subject of NATO enlargement. Mir... MORE