Lezgin "Sadval" activist and Russian citizen Nariman Ramazanov, arrested July 11 by Azerbaijan's authorities, has been handed back to Russia, Azerbaijani national security minister Namig Abbasov announced yesterday. Abbasov did not name the reasons for this decision, only stating that Baku acted under the Russia-Azerbaijan... MORE

Ukrainian prime minister Pavlo Lazarenko, first deputy prime minister Vasyl Durdinets, and other government officials concluded yesterday in Donetsk an agreement with the Coal Industry Workers' Union and the Independent Donbass Miners' Union to end the massive strike in the industry. The government guarantees to... MORE

Belarus president Aleksandr Lukashenko is pleased with the results of his three-day official visit to France, he told a news conference on returning to Minsk. French president Jacques Chirac made possible Lukashenko's first-ever official visit to a major country other than Russia. The two presidents... MORE

Iran plans to open a mission in the Russian Federation's Dagestan republic, Iranian ambassador to Russia Mehdi Safari told a news conference yesterday in Dagestan's capital Makhachkala. Safari was visiting at the invitation of Dagestan's leadership to identify mutually advantageous areas of economic and cultural... MORE

Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and U.S. vice president Al Gore concluded the seventh meeting of their jointly chaired bilateral commission yesterday on an up note, predicting a surge of U.S. investment into the Russian economy and announcing the signing of 27 documents. "We are... MORE

Aside from answering some questions about Yeltsin's health, the Clinton administration had also made clear that it viewed the meeting with the Russian president as an opportunity to raise its concerns over the renewed violence in Chechnya. During a series of U.S. TV interviews prior... MORE

President Yeltsin's surprise appointment of one of Russia's most prominent reformers as his chief of staff has been greeted with rapturous approval by the liberal Russian media. Anatoly Chubais is also tipped to assume the post of chief presidential aide which is expected to be... MORE

One day after their planned meeting was unexpectedly postponed, U.S. vice president Al Gore met with Russian president Boris Yeltsin for about 45 minutes yesterday at a government sanatorium outside of Moscow. After their talks, which were described by both sides as friendly, Gore said... MORE

The U.S. government has allocated $500,000 (five hundred thousand) toward Georgia's participation in NATO's Partnership for Peace program, U.S. assistant secretary of state for arms control Lynn Davis told a news conference in Tbilisi. Davis further commented that the transfer of part of Georgia's CFE... MORE

The first stage of the Amber Sea 96 naval exercise ended yesterday off Riga. Underway since July 12, the exercise will continue off Tallinn and in the Gulf of Finland. Fourteen ships with some 200 sailors of the three Baltic states are practicing minesweeping, embargo... MORE