Nezavisimaya gazeta, which commented May 25 that Zyuganov's program seemed to owe more to Keynes than to Marx, says copies of the document have been sent to the 13 influential Russian bankers who caused such a stir last month when they appealed to Yeltsin and... MORE

A confidential report prepared by Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service concludes that any delay by Moscow in ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention could sharply reduce both Moscow's ability to influence the process of chemical disarmament in the world and its ability to defend Russian interests.... MORE

Continuing his courtship of the Russian military, Boris Yeltsin yesterday greeted personnel of Russia's Federal Border Service (FBS) on Border Forces Day. The greeting comes two days after FBS chief Army General Andrei Nikolayev said that new policy guidelines for the border forces, approved recently... MORE

Chechen resistance leaders returned home from Moscow via Ingushetia with an OSCE escort. Acting president Zelimkhan Yandarbiev told the press en route that Russian president Boris Yeltsin has "a real chance to end this dirty war" and help shape normal relations between Russia and Chechnya.... MORE

Tatyana Koryagina told a press conference May 28 that a Communist government would continue to work with the International Monetary Fund as long as the IMF agreed to review some of the terms of the $10.1 billion loan agreement reached with the Yeltsin government in... MORE

As expected, Western governments yesterday reacted positively, but also with some wariness, to the cease-fire agreement between Russia and Chechnya. White House spokesman Mike McCurry said that the United States "welcomes the apparent agreement" between the two sides, but that Washington would also "be watching... MORE

Viktor Anpilov, leader of the radical Working Russia movement, told journalists that the Communists and their allies will be persecuted by the secret police if Zyuganov loses next month's presidential election. He said "Working Russia" has already made plans to go underground. (RTR, May 28)... MORE

New regulations have been approved by the Russian government that will allow individuals and companies, both resident and non-resident, to conduct a range of currency operations for which special permission from Russia's Central Bank used to be required. These include transferring money abroad to pay... MORE

At an agitated session of the Ukrainian parliament yesterday, 171 out of the 422 deputies endorsed a motion to put the removal of Oleksandr Moroz as chairman of the legislature on the agenda. A vote on the motion, which was spearheaded by reformists, was postponed... MORE

The central authorities in Kiev reduced the supply of electric power to Crimea May 28, saying the peninsula was in arrears on its fuel bills. Crimea is almost totally reliant on the mainland for electricity and fresh water. (Itar-Tass, May 28) If power cuts continue,... MORE