A Russian daily said yesterday that a draft presidential decree has already been drawn up calling for defense minister Pavel Grachev to be replaced by Duma deputy and former deputy defense minister Boris Gromov. The newspaper depicted the action as a logical follow-up to Yeltsin's... MORE

North Ossetian president and Moscow loyalist Akhsarbek Galazov said May 21 and 22 that a long-discussed all-Caucasus summit, which he has strongly promoted, is now scheduled to convene in North Ossetia's capital Vladikavkaz June 4. The summit is to be chaired by Boris Yeltsin and... MORE

According to Russian press reports, the fact that recent opinion polls show incumbent president Boris Yeltsin surging ahead of his main presidential challenger, Gennady Zyuganov, is creating panic in the ranks of the Communist and nationalist alliance that Zyuganov leads. Amid gloomy predictions that, with... MORE

Kicking off a seven-day visit to Latin America that will also take him to Cuba and Venezuela, Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov met May 20 with Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo and other top officials. The two sides later signed a series of intergovernmental agreements that... MORE

Washington has warned Russia and Ukraine not to sell SS-18 long-range missile technology to China, U.S. defense secretary William Perry said yesterday. According to Perry and other Pentagon officials, the United States has received information that China seeks the technology from Russia, ostensibly for rocket... MORE

A Polish Defense Ministry spokesman said yesterday that Warsaw is considering an offer from McDonnell Douglas to sell Poland F-18 fighters. The sweetener in the deal calls for Poland to produce 60 percent of the parts for the aircraft. Although one Polish newspaper described the... MORE

The late Andrei Sakharov would have celebrated his 75th birthday today. To mark the event, a museum in his name was opened in Moscow yesterday. Located at 57 Zemlyanoi Val Street (Block 6), it lies just across the street from the house in which the... MORE

Speaking yesterday in Mexico City, Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov outlined three areas of significant disagreement between Moscow and the West. Primakov pointed first to NATO enlargement, disclaiming any veto prerogative for Russia but nevertheless repeating Moscow's well-worn formulation that NATO's military infrastructure should not... MORE

A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman yesterday welcomed a deal between Baghdad and the UN that will allow a partial resumption of Iraqi oil exports. The spokesman suggested, however, that Moscow would like to see more action on removing all UN sanctions against Iraq. (Reuter, May... MORE

Russia made an official application yesterday to become a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the "rich man's club" embracing 27 industrialized countries. So far, the Czech Republic and Hungary are the only former Communist countries accepted as members, though Russia signed... MORE