. The second round of the gubernatorial election in St. Petersburg will be held June 2, a week later than originally announced. The district electoral commission says its needs the postponement to prepare the necessary documentation. Incumbent mayor Anatoly Sobchak, who won 29 percent in... MORE

German foreign minister Klaus Kinkel said yesterday that NATO foreign ministers, scheduled to meet next month in Berlin, would avoid discussion of NATO enlargement so as to avoid influencing the June 16 Russian presidential election. Russia's foreign minister is to attend the meeting. (Reuter, May... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin signed a decree yesterday calling for reform of the country's tax system. Measures that will come into effect immediately include a reduction in fines for individuals and companies in arrears with their tax payments. More sweeping reforms are promised for 1996;... MORE

Tajik United Opposition (UTO) deputy chairman Akbar Turajonzoda charged May 19, and Russia's Air Force denied yesterday, that Russian aircraft last week had rocketed and strafed opposition-controlled villages in Tajikistan's Tavildara district and on the Tajik-Afghan border. "The Russian Air Force does not interfere in... MORE

Addressing an international conference in Warsaw on "The Rebirth of Ukraine," that country's First Deputy Foreign Minister Anton Buteiko said that Kiev regards NATO as a key factor in the security of Europe and does not object to its eastward enlargement. No country is entitled... MORE

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has "semi-officially" requested the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to close its mission in Kiev and its sub-mission in the Crimean capital, Simferopol, Ukrainian foreign minister Hennady Udovenko told Interfax-Ukraine May 20. "We think the mission has completed its... MORE

The Yerevan office of the International Committee of the Red Cross said yesterday that Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Karabakh all continue holding prisoners of war and hostages, notwithstanding their claims to have released all of them as part of the recent exchange arranged by Russian foreign... MORE

The Baltic presidents yesterday issued statements ruling out Russian president Boris Yeltsin's surprise idea, aired at the May 17 CIS summit, to hold talks with the Baltic presidents regarding the three countries' admission to the CIS. Latvian president Guntis Ulmanis said that Latvia's national interests... MORE

Gromov's remarks notwithstanding, some Russian commentators have opined that Yeltsin's military decrees may in fact be little more than electioneering. Pavel Felgengauer, the respected defense analyst for the daily Segodnya, suggested that Russian military leaders will acquiesce to Yeltsin because they remember that "in the... MORE

Agrarian Party leader Mikhail Lapshin reacted gloomily to President Yeltsin's 14 May decision to reappoint Viktor Khlystun as minister of agriculture, saying that unless Khlystun had abandoned the "reformist policies" he tried to effect in 1991, when he was first appointed to the post, no... MORE