Reports out of Vienna yesterday suggested that the U.S. and Russia remain at loggerheads over a global agreement to control arms exports. Talks on the so-called Wassenaar agreement, which is intended to be a follow-up to the Cold War era COCOM, are slated to resume... MORE

President Leonid Kuchma and other Ukrainian officials yesterday threw some light on the reasons behind Valery Shmarov's removal as defense minister. Consulting with parliamentary deputies on the formation of Pavlo Lazarenko's government, Kuchma said that the new defense minister will be a military man, in... MORE

Yesterday on the second day of the latest inter-Tajik talks in Ashgabat, Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov offered to host negotiations in Moscow between Tajik president Imomali Rahmonov and United Tajik Opposition chairman Saidabdullo Nuri. Both Tajik delegations accepted the proposal, but UTO chief delegate... MORE

In sharp contrast to the unseemly wrangle surrounding the naming of Russia's next defense minister, President Boris Yeltsin yesterday quietly named Col. General Nikolai Kovalev to head Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB). The choice was not a surprise. The 46-year-old career KGB officer had been... MORE

A draft law on military reform has been sent to Boris Yeltsin, a Russian daily reported yesterday. The law was prepared by the Duma's defense committee, which is chaired by Lev Rokhlin, and included input from one-time committee member and now Security Council secretary Aleksandr... MORE

Russia's disgraced former defense minister charged yesterday that allegations of corruption leveled against him and military leaders in his entourage had been cooked up as part of a broader power struggle in the Kremlin. According to Pavel Grachev, newly appointed Security Council secretary Aleksandr Lebed... MORE

Moscow has been agog with allegations of corruption in recent days. In addition to General Rokhlin's allegations about wrongdoing by the top brass, deputy prosecutor general Yuri Chaika has pointed the finger at Petr Mostovoi, first deputy chairman of the State Property Committee, which he... MORE

Even before the expiry of the Russian command's ultimatum to the Chechen resistance. (see Monitor, July 9) Russian aviation and artillery yesterday attacked Gekhi village in western Chechnya, killing at least 20 civilians and wounding scores of others, according to the pro-Moscow district administration. Russian... MORE

A Russian diplomat said yesterday that Moscow expects to open a trade mission in Taiwan sometime in the near future. Taipei has had a trade mission operating in Moscow since July, 1993. The diplomat nevertheless reemphasized Moscow's stand that Taiwan is an inseparable part of... MORE

In a major victory for U.S. law enforcement agencies, a reputed Russian Mafia leader and two other emigres were found guilty in New York July 8 on charges of extortion. Vyacheslav Ivankov faces up to 40 years in jail and a $500,000 fine. The FBI... MORE