Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry yesterday voiced "deep concern" over China's June 9 nuclear weapon test, conducted at the Lop Nor testing range in Xinjiang region which abuts Kazakhstan. The ministry called on China to join the restrictions on testing adopted by other nuclear countries. (Reuter, June... MORE

Yesterday in Nazran, Russian and Chechen resistance delegations signed two protocols on implementing the May 27 Moscow armistice. The protocol on military issues rules out the use of force, including artillery shelling and aviation bombing. It also bans "special operations" but leaves the definition of... MORE

In an interview published today, Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov asserted that Moscow would pursue relations with Cuba not as a response to U.S. diplomacy in the CIS, but as a manifestation of Russia's own great power status. Denying that potential U.S. opposition would be... MORE

A Russian Foreign Ministry official yesterday expressed "regret and concern" over a Chinese underground nuclear test conducted June 8. But the unnamed official also interpreted as a positive development a Chinese pledge to join an international moratorium on nuclear detonations in September. The official suggested... MORE

The chairman of the Jewish Agency agreed during a meeting yesterday with Russia's justice minister to provide Moscow with additional information on the agency's activities in order to facilitate its registration in Russia. In a letter, Avraham Burg also affirmed the emigration agency's status as... MORE

The BBC reported today that a convoy carrying Chechen negotiators and OSCE mediators back to Grozny from peace talks in Ingushetia was hit by two rounds of mortar fire. Cars are said to have been damaged, and people injured, but no further details were immediately... MORE

Yeltsin campaign manager Sergei Filatov says the second round of the presidential election may be held on Wednesday, July 3, instead of Sunday, July 7 or 14, as originally planned. Filatov said more voters were likely to come to the polls midweek than on a... MORE

In tit-for-tat with Communists, Yeltsin will field own election observers. The move comes in response to Communist plans to send 20,000 activists to prevent cheating in next Sunday's presidential elections, and because of what a Yeltsin aide said was "bedlam" in some regional election organizations.... MORE

Commenting on the alliances Yeltsin might strike if the elections go to a second round, presidential adviser Georgy Satarov identified Aleksandr Lebed as a more likely candidate than Grigory Yavlinsky. (Interfax, June 10) Rumors in Moscow indicate that Yeltsin will offer Lebed the post of... MORE

A Russian deputy foreign minister told parliament members June 7 that China poses no threat to Russia in the foreseeable future and that Moscow's arms sales to Beijing are not of a scope or a level of sophistication to put Russia's security at risk. Aleksandr... MORE