The issuance of a joint communique proclaiming a "strategic partnership" between Beijing and Moscow topped a day in which the two countries signed a bevy of agreements. Following a two-hour meeting in the Great Hall of the People between Russian president Boris Yeltsin and his... MORE

During a conference in Brussels on the eve of another visit to Eastern Europe by NATO secretary-general Javier Solana, alliance officials reportedly have indicated that NATO has recently stiffened in its resolve to expand "even if the Russians don't like it." But they also said... MORE

Ultranationalist leader and Russian presidential candidate Vladimir Zhirinovsky celebrated his fiftieth birthday yesterday. He invited 3,300 supporters, including far-right leaders from France and Germany, to Moscow's Rossiya Hotel for a buffet of caviar washed down with Zhirinovsky champagne, Zhirinovsky vodka and -- an innovation --... MORE

South Korea's foreign minister will visit Moscow May 5-8 in order to discuss the tense situation on the Korean peninsula, a ministry spokesman said in Seoul yesterday. Gong Ro-myung, who is to meet with his Russian counterpart, Yevgeny Primakov, will reportedly try to enlist Russia's... MORE

In early June, Russian and U.S. troops are to conduct their first joint anti-missile defense exercises at Falcon Air Base in Colorado, the Pentagon announced yesterday. Through computer-simulated maneuvers, the two sides reportedly hope to learn how best to coordinate their missiles weapons systems. According... MORE

A deputy director of the Russian state arms trading firm Rosvooruzheniye said yesterday that Moscow had exhibited a Kilo-636 submarine, designed in St. Petersburg, at an international arms fair in Malaysia. On the same day, a Russian tank manufacturer said it would offer its T-72S... MORE

Claiming that the "matter in question is much too delicate" for comment, an official of Rosvooruzheniye refused to speak yesterday on press reports that the parliament of Cyprus has earmarked nearly $175 million for the purchase of 41 Russian T-80 tanks. (See Monitor, April 23)... MORE

An item in the Monitor of April 24 incorrectly said that: "A majority of Russian residents of Narva added a demand that candidates for local office not be required to have a working knowledge of the Estonian language." It was a majority of Narva city... MORE

A symposium on "Comprehensive Security within the OSCE Framework in Central Asia and Regional Challenges" has been in progress in Tashkent since April 23, with one special session held yesterday in Dushanbe. OSCE secretary-general Wilhelm Hoynck delivered the main report at the symposium, attended by... MORE

An April 23 Russian commentary suggested that the rejection by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights of a U.S.-sponsored measure to censure Havana on human rights grounds represented a serious defeat for U.S. diplomacy. The commentary noted, moreover, that sanctions imposed on Cuba by... MORE