Tajikistan's first deputy defense minister and armed forces chief of staff, Maj. General Nikolai Shcherbatov told a Dushanbe briefing yesterday that some 2,000 government soldiers continue battling an estimated 700 opposition fighters in central Tajikistan's Tavildara district, most of which was recaptured by Dushanbe's troops... MORE

Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov visited St. Petersburg June 27 to meet his counterpart, newly elected governor Vladimir Yakovlev. Both men are seen as pragmatic, hands-on managers. Luzhkov strongly supported Yakovlev's election challenge to incumbent Anatoly Sobchak in May. During last week's visit, Luzhkov and Yakovlev... MORE

Addressing a meeting of the presidents of Eastern and Central European countries in Salzburg yesterday, Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma called for "unambiguous assurances" from the European Union and NATO that their planned eastward expansion will not be limited to a few countries, and that "these... MORE

Western experts are reported to be increasingly concerned by what they describe as significant investments by Russia in the development and deployment of advanced new submarines. One U.S. naval official described the submarine investment program as "worrisome" for a country that is seeking aid from... MORE

Russia's Central Bank has taken administrative control over the troubled Tver Universal Bank, which ten days ago announced that it was temporarily ceasing operations. Opinions in the Russian media are divided over whether the bank's problems are due to incompetence on the part of its... MORE

The end may be in sight for the customs declarations foreign visitors have to fill in when entering and leaving Russia. The Central Bank of Russia, which has already announced its intention of signing Article 8 of the IMF Charter and making the ruble fully... MORE

In the consensus of observers it is the Russian side which has openly repudiated the provisions of the armistice in Chechnya. However the commander of Russia's combined forces in Chechnya, Lt. General Vyacheslav Tikhomirov yesterday issued an ultimatum to the Chechen resistance demanding that the... MORE

Tax collection is now the Russian government's number one priority. Tax receipts dropped in the first half of this year to half their 1995 levels -- from 12 percent of GDP to below 6 percent -- resulting in a fall of more than $5 billion... MORE

Pakistan's defense minister said yesterday that his country will not be buying advanced Russian Su-27 fighter-bombers because Moscow had refused to guarantee delivery of spare parts for the aircraft. Islamabad had considered the purchase of the Russian planes as a replacement for 60 U.S. F-16's... MORE

Russia's military corruption scandal heated up yesterday as General Lev Rokhlin, Duma defense committee chairman and a member of Viktor Chernomyrdin's "Russia is Our Home" faction, defended charges of embezzlement that he had leveled against a number of military leaders on July 5. (See Monitor,... MORE