Early voting in Russia's presidential election began over the weekend as seamen cast their ballots in the Pacific port of Vladivostok. (Itar-Tass, Reuters, June 3) Reporting the news last night, the usually servile evening television news "Vremya" staged a mini-revolt. Noting defense minister Pavel Grachev's... MORE

But Yeltsin's campaign came under fire yesterday from the communist speaker of the Duma speaker, Gennady Seleznev. Seleznev accused the president of exceeding campaign spending limits, saying he was monopolizing the media and spending millions of dollars on campaign stunts. "The voter is being bombarded... MORE

The Belarus parliament will set up a special commission to investigate the actions of the OMON and the police during the May 30 demonstration. Deputies from various parties and groups criticized those actions as excessive during the debate on the resolution, presaging a critical verdict... MORE

Completing a two-day visit to Uzbekistan, German foreign minister Klaus Kinkel said he agreed with President Islam Karimov that the two countries have "major common interests." Noting "Uzbekistan's important geopolitical position," Kinkel said that Germany would assist Uzbekistan in establishing closer relations with European Union... MORE

U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, completing a visit to the Baltic states, said that the Baltic presidents and other senior officials had voiced their concern about NATO's apparent reluctance to include them in the first round of NATO enlargement. Lugar called for NATO to adopt "a... MORE

The Internal Affairs Ministry of Belarus has detained 84 participants in the May 30 pro-independence demonstration in Minsk, and will impose "administrative penalties" on most of them, according to ministry officials and a senior presidential aide. The aide, Vladimir Zametalin, accused Belarus Popular Front chairman... MORE

Pravda complained last week that NTV's chat-show "Vremechko" had doctored an interview with liberal Communist theoretician Aleksandr Buzgalin to create the false impression that Buzgalin had called for the extermination of "intellectuals and bourgeoisie." (Pravda, May 29) Izvestiya is said to have been too afraid... MORE

After two weeks of negotiations, the thirty signatories to the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty, meeting in Vienna, agreed over the weekend to give Russia an extra three years to meet its treaty obligations in two contentious "flank areas." The new agreement effectively... MORE

Incumbent Anatoly Sobchak has been defeated in the second round of elections for the governor of Russia's second city, St. Petersburg, losing to his own first deputy, Vladimir Yakovlev. Yakovlev won by the narrow margin of 47.5 percent to 45.8 percent. (Itar-Tass, June 2, Reuters,... MORE

Sobchak, a law professor who rose to national prominence as a democratic reformer in the late 1980s, had been mayor since 1991. He fancied himself a "cat that walks by itself" and this, according to Izvestiya, proved his undoing. Sobchak had aligned himself with Prime... MORE