The headquarters of Russia's Northern Fleet has announced that Russian strategic nuclear submarines successfully fired ballistic missiles at a target in northeast Russia during an exercise in the Barents Sea yesterday. (Itar-Tass, July 15) Details were not available, but the exercise sounded similar to one... MORE

Naval officials said July 13 that the federal government owes sailors serving at the Leningrad naval base in St. Petersburg some 250 billion rubles in back pay and benefits. They also said that no federal money has arrived for the conduct of a July 28... MORE

Following a meeting with military leaders, Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin yesterday ordered the Finance Ministry to quickly resolve a "crisis situation" developing in the army and other "power ministries" over non-payments of allowances, pensions, and other social benefits. Chernomyrdin's action came as an unnamed... MORE

Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma yesterday appointed Lt. General Oleksandr Kuzymuk as defense minister, replacing the civilian Valery Shmarov, who had been ousted July 8 after his performance was found unsatisfactory. The choice of Kuzymuk signifies a return to the practice -- strongly favored by Ukraine's... MORE

A Russian newspaper reported yesterday that there are now two finalists in the race for Russia's defense minister post -- Border Forces commander Andrei Nikolayev and General Staff Academy chief Igor Rodionov -- and that Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin stands behind the first and Security... MORE

The Clinton administration, which had been notably reticent to criticize Moscow for its military operations in Chechnya prior to Russia's presidential elections, yesterday deplored reported attacks on civilians in the tiny Caucasus republic. State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns blamed the Yeltsin government for resuming military... MORE

Russian Security Council secretary and presidential security advisor Aleksandr Lebed, who has been hungrily demanding new powers since he joined the Yeltsin team, got at least part of his wish July 10 with the signing of two decrees by Boris Yeltsin. One granted Lebed unspecified... MORE

Col. Gen. Eduard Vorobyov, former first deputy commander-in-chief of Russia's ground forces and now a Duma deputy (Russia's Democratic Choice) said on television that Yeltsin as commander-in-chief bears personal responsibility for the violence and warned that "the president's honor is at stake." Deputy Aleksei Arbatov... MORE

One of the key architects of the Clinton administration's Russia policy said yesterday that Washington hopes Boris Yeltsin's recent election victory will promote "real progress" in the dialogue over NATO enlargement. According to Strobe Talbott, Washington would like to reach "an understanding, a set of... MORE

Estonian authorities have postponed the expiration date of former Soviet passports for ethnic Russians living in Estonia until November 30, 1996, according to an Interior Ministry spokesman. The validity of these passports was to expire today. Ethnic Russians had named today "Black Friday," fearing that... MORE