Completing a visit to Chisinau, Romanian foreign minister Teodor Melescanu said in an interview published in a Moldovan pro-Romanian newspaper that the two sides remain at odds on "very many points" concerning the proposed interstate treaty. Chisinau disagrees with Bucharest's insistence on a "treaty of... MORE

An estimated 50,000 people participated in an unauthorized mass demonstration in Minsk April 26 to protest President Aleksandr Lukashenko's policy of seeking a merger of Belarus with Russia. Slogans upheld Belarus independence and denounced Lukashenko's authoritarian tendencies. Police attacked the demonstrators with batons and arrested... MORE

. Russian president Boris Yeltsin told a news conference in Almaty that Russia has no territorial claims against Ukraine, Kazakhstan, or other newly independent countries, "which are as indivisible as Russia is. We do not claim even an inch of other countries' territory, but neither... MORE

Responding to last week's appeal in which thirteen influential Russian entrepreneurs and bankers called on the candidates to negotiate a pre-election pact to preserve civil peace, Communist candidate Gennady Zyuganov said he would agree to talks to his rivals. "We are ready for such a... MORE

Friday, April 26, was the last day for the registration of candidates for next June's presidential election. The Central Election Commission granted registration to pharmaceutical magnate Vladimir Bryntsalov (though officials continued to express doubts about the validity of some of the signatures submitted in support... MORE

Commanders of Russia's ground forces have reportedly reacted bitterly to preliminary Defense Ministry plans for additional manpower reductions in the ground forces. A Russian daily described as "turbulent" an April 25 meeting at which the proposed cuts were discussed. Commander in Chief of Russian Ground... MORE

The Clinton administration signaled last week that, publicly at least, it sees little to fear in Boris Yeltsin's April 24-26 visit to China and the declarations of enhanced Sino-Russian cooperation that resulted from it. "We don't have any concerns," State Department deputy spokesman Glyn Davies... MORE

Russia has reached agreement with the Paris club of twenty Western creditor nations to reschedule over $40 billion of foreign debts, most of them accumulated during the Soviet period. (BBC World Service, April 29) Germany alone accounts for about half the sum. The agreement is... MORE

In an unusually frank interview, Yeltsin's chief aide Viktor Ilyushin has expressed dissatisfaction with the way the campaign to reelect the president is being organized and admitted that some of Yeltsin's entourage have been feeding him false information. Ilyushin told the Interfax news agency he... MORE

Over the weekend, former premier Yegor Gaidar declared his support for Yeltsin's reelection bid and called on his party, Russia's Democratic Choice, to do the same. Gaidar had earlier withheld his support in protest against the conduct of the war in Chechnya. Speaking at the... MORE