The Russian Duma yesterday approved in its first reading a draft law that would more than triple the amount levied in fines for evading the military draft. The vote comes as Russia transitions to an all-volunteer force. A General Staff representative told deputies that there... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin has dismissed his personal security chief Aleksandr Korzhakov, the chief of the Federal Security Service (successor to the KGB) Mikhail Barsukov, and First Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets following an overnight incident in which two members of Yeltsin's election team were briefly... MORE

Kazakhstan's deputy prime minister, Harry Steuck, signed yesterday in Almaty on behalf of his government two joint venture agreements with international partners. The Netherlands-based IBB industrial group and Kazakhstan, forming the joint venture IBB Kazakhstan, will build a 640 megawatt coal-fired power plant on the... MORE

In televised statements yesterday, Russia's newly appointed Security Council secretary and presidential security adviser, Aleksandr Lebed, accused Georgian defense minister Vardiko Nadibaidze of having joined an alleged attempt by deposed Russian defense minister Pavel Grachev and other Russian generals to resist changes atop the Defense... MORE

Georgia's State Prosecutor's Office announced yesterday the completion of a preliminary investigation into "acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing" perpetrated against the Georgian population of Abkhazia during the 1992-93 conflict. The investigation identified approximately 70 organizers, "including leaders of the Abkhaz separatist regime," and approximately... MORE

At a session chaired by Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin in Moscow yesterday, the Executive Committee of the Russia-Belarus Community focused on the formation of a common labor and housing market of the two states. Such a market is necessary to enable citizens of either... MORE

Addressing an official youth forum yesterday, Belarus president Aleksandr Lukashenko charged that "part of the teaching staff of universities and vocational colleges are conducting an active anti-presidential campaign and inciting students to participate in unauthorized rallies and demonstrations." Those teachers, Lukashenko said, are habitual bribe... MORE

The Latvian parliament yesterday reelected President Guntis Ulmanis for another three-year term. Ulmanis received 53 votes in the 100-seat chamber. The runner-up, parliament chairwoman Ilga Kreitusse of the left-of-center Entrepreneurs' Democratic Party, received 25 votes. Ulmanis, born in 1935, is a grand nephew of Latvia's... MORE

In an official statement yesterday the OSCE' s Permanent Council described the legislative elections just held in Chechnya as "unfree and unfair" and "incompatible with OSCE principles." The statement further said that the decision to hold those elections contravenes the armistice agreements signed June 10... MORE

Unnamed sources in the Russian president's entourage said June 18 that Yeltsin is soon to issue new regulations on the functioning of the Russian Security Council that will significantly widen the responsibilities of its secretary, the recently appointed Aleksandr Lebed. They suggested that Lebed would... MORE