Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov is to meet today with EU leaders in Rome to discuss, among other topics, Russia's relations with the EU, European security, and the situation in the former Yugoslavia. The EU leaders will present Primakov with the organization's recently approved "action... MORE

A tree-planting ceremony meant to symbolize friendship between Russia and Japan turned into anything but that May 27 when Russian customs officials refused to allow ten baby cherry trees to be brought onto one of the four disputed Kuril Islands. The trees had been transported... MORE

An expert in Russia's Foreign Trade Ministry said May 27 that Moscow and rump Yugoslavia intend to lift bilateral trade to the levels that existed prior to the imposition of sanctions on Belgrade in 1992. In the early 1990s, he said, trade turnover between the... MORE

A top-level meeting between representatives of the Russian Federation and the Chechen resistance, announced by President Yeltsin May 23 and mediated by the OSCE's Chechnya mission (see Monitor, May 23 & 24), took place in the Kremlin yesterday. A Chechen delegation comprised of acting President... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin today landed in Chechnya for a visit whose stated purpose is to meet Chechen people and Russian soldiers and to deliver a speech outlining his vision of settling the conflict. Yeltsin's travel plan was kept secret until this morning. He flew... MORE

The International Monetary Fund has approved credits worth $200 million to support the Moldovan government's reform programs for 1996-1998. Reviewing the government's performance, the IMF found that financial stabilization "has largely been achieved," inflation is the lowest among all the ex-Soviet countries, interest rates are... MORE

Dushanbe military officials said yesterday that government forces have launched an offensive, "using all available means," in the Garm area of central Tajikistan. The officials claimed that government forces regained full control of the Komsomolabad and Tajikabad raions, where opposition forces have long been operating... MORE

On his surprise visit to Kiev yesterday (see Monitor, May 23), Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin held two successive sessions of one-on-one talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, Yevhen Marchuk, and with President Leonid Kuchma. Lasting eight hours and described as "intense," the talks covered most... MORE

The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Daniel Tarschys, told an international conference in Warsaw yesterday that Western countries are concerned over the political situation in Belarus and consider President Aleksandr Lukashenko responsible for violating human rights, suppressing press freedom, and using repressive measures... MORE

The Ford Motor Company and Belarusian prime minister Mikhail Chyhir announced yesterday the signing of an agreement to establish a joint manufacturing venture, Ford Union, in which the U.S. company will hold a majority of the stock. To be located in Obchuk, near Minsk, the... MORE