U.S. ambassador to Russia Thomas Pickering suggested yesterday that Moscow was shooting itself in the foot by viewing NATO as a threat, rather than as a pillar of a European security system that might also contribute to stability in Russia. In remarks to the Duma's... MORE

At a briefing in the CIS Countries' Press Attaches' Club in Moscow yesterday, the Communist chairman of Russia's Duma, Gennady Seleznev condemned the statements made by the CIS countries' presidents at last week's CIS summit supporting the reelection of Boris Yeltsin as president of Russia.... MORE

Communist party leader Gennady Zyuganov announced yesterday that his long-awaited economic program was finalized at a closed-door meeting of his campaign team last weekend, and will be published "within three days." (ORT, May 20) Meanwhile, President Boris Yeltsin's aide Viktor Ilyushin said Yeltsin's election program... MORE

Itar-Tass reported yesterday that highly toxic phenol (carbolic acid), accidentally released in a trash crash last week, had put more than 100 people in the hospital and threatened to cause an environmental disaster in central Russia. Phenol had reportedly seeped into streams and polluted the... MORE

On an electoral campaign tour of Siberia during the weekend, Russian president Boris Yeltsin continued to sound undecided and confused about the feasibility and purposes of a presidential visit to Chechnya. Yeltsin stressed, on the one hand, that his advisers and the security bodies oppose... MORE

Belarus Popular Front leaders have urged Poland to continue its official criticism of violations of political liberties and human rights in Belarus. The only uncensored Belarusian

A Georgian airborne assault "brigade" and three special-purpose battalions belonging to the National Security Ministry but subordinated directly to President Eduard Shevardnadze, conducted demonstration exercises over the weekend at a military base near Tbilisi. Shevardnadze himself observed the exercises.

Dushanbe officials said this

The on-again, off-again confrontation between Moscow and London over Russian spy charges took an unexpected turn over the weekend when the Kremlin criticized Britain May 18 for its part in what had appeared a day earlier to be an amicable, mutual compromise. On May 17... MORE

As expected, Boris Yeltsin's May 16 decree ordering the elimination of unpopular conscript military service by the year 2000 has provoked criticism from the Communist opposition. (See Monitor, May 17) The head of the Duma Defense Committee, Viktor Ilyukhin, said May 17 that the Duma... MORE