Latvian defense minister Andrejs Krastins said yesterday that the country needs to accelerate the transition from the conscription system to a professional army. Krastins called for taking a "big foreign credit" to help fund the program. Prime Minister Andris Skele the preceding day endorsed the... MORE

Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze's chief spokesman Vahtang Abashidze told a news conference yesterday that the possible appointment of Col. General Igor Rodionov as Russian defense minister, proposed by Aleksandr Lebed, would "in no way affect Georgian-Russian relations." "It is not for Georgia to comment on... MORE

Addressing a gathering of Russian patriotic groups, Kremlin security strongman Aleksandr Lebed yesterday vowed both to ban foreign religions and to make the battle against the West's "cultural expansion" a cornerstone of his security policy. "Everyone comes to Russia to steal," Lebed told a news... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin has canceled three trips outside Moscow in recent days and his failure to show up this morning at a scheduled Moscow meeting has prompted fear that the election campaign is taking a toll on his health. Prime Minister Chernomyrdin acknowledged that Yeltsin... MORE

Speaking to journalists yesterday, new Kremlin security boss Aleksandr Lebed suggested that the Russian Constitution should be amended to allow parliament to appoint the government. Until now, this has been the exclusive prerogative of the president. Lebed also approved the proposal, heard with increasing frequency... MORE

A senior Russian naval commander said June 26 that Boris Yeltsin had ordered construction to begin soon on the first of a fleet of advanced strategic missile nuclear submarines. The navy would begin receiving one new such submarine annually starting in the year 2002, the... MORE

There are reports of an explosion this morning on a bus in Nalchik, capital of Ingushetia which borders on Chechnya. So far, no information concerning casualties is available. (BBC World Service, June 28) Russian and Japanese Foreign Ministers to Meet.

Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov is to meet tomorrow with his Japanese counterpart, Yukihiko Ikeda, at the G-7 Summit in Lyon, sources in Tokyo said yesterday. The meeting comes less than two weeks after Primakov angered Tokyo by calling for a postponement of negotiations on... MORE

Uzbek president Islam Karimov is currently paying a week-long working visit to the U.S. Karimov was received by President Bill Clinton at the White House June 25 and held talks June 25 and 26 with Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, Defense Secretary William Perry,... MORE

A high-ranking military official yesterday denied Russian media reports that general staff chief and acting Russian defense minister Army General Mikhail Kolesnikov had resigned from either or both of his posts. The same source suggested that Kolesnikov had been caught unawares by the dismissal June... MORE