Early voting results from Russia's Far East suggest that voter turnout is so far patchy. The BBC says that in some places it is above the turnout recorded in the first round on June 16 but in others it is below. Turnout is however reported... MORE

In yet another indication of the problems besetting Russia's space program, a space agency spokesman said yesterday that Moscow might have to postpone a planned July 22 launch of food and fuel supplies to two Russians and an American aboard the space station Mir. The... MORE

Ukraine's president Leonid Kuchma was jubilant yesterday, saying the adoption of Ukraine's first post-Soviet constitution means that Ukraine is now "a predictable country." (Interfax-Ukraine, July 1) The adoption of the constitution by parliament on 28 June, after a mammoth all-night session, marked the culmination of... MORE

The document adopted June 28 incorporates parliament's changes and is viewed by both parliament and president as an acceptable compromise. (Segodnya, July 2) Only the Ukrainian Communist party has dissented, calling the legislation "anti-people." It provides for the single-chamber legislature that parliament itself wanted --... MORE

Delegates from Russia met with representatives of the Chechen resistance yesterday but failed again to establish a mechanism for implementing the Moscow and Nazran armistice agreements. Several working groups held sessions at which they continued to disagree on the procedure of exchanging forcibly held persons,... MORE

A controversy between Russia's two leading news agencies has developed over differing claims as to the authorship of a draft Russian national security concept paper published June 26 by Interfax and attributed to Security Council secretary Aleksandr Lebed. (See Monitor, June 27) A day later,... MORE

What would happen if Boris Yeltsin were to become seriously ill today ? If he was unable to take part in the runoff against Gennady Zyuganov, the election would be postponed and Yeltsin's place would be taken by Aleksandr Lebed as the candidate who placed... MORE

The Belarus General Prosecutor's Office announced yesterday that it has closed the investigation into the mass murders committed by the ex-USSR's secret police NKVD in the Kuropaty forest near Minsk. The officials confirmed the estimate that at least 30,000 people were shot and buried in... MORE

Only one day remains before Russians go to the polls in the second and final round of the presidential election that will decide whether Boris Yeltsin is reelected or whether Russia returns to Communist rule. Although campaigning is banned on the eve of the election,... MORE

Moldovan defense minister Lt. General Pavel Creanga yesterday issued a statement rejecting "invented" accusations of corruption and sedition, publicly leveled against him by president Mircea Snegur at a parliamentary session and in a presidential request to the Prosecutor General for "urgent measures" against Creanga. Creanga... MORE