Russia's Constitutional Court is to consider the question of whether the governors of Russia's regions should be appointed and dismissed by the president, as most of them presently are, or popularly elected, as is the case in a few exceptional regions. (Interfax, April 10) Yeltsin... MORE

Retired Lt. General Aleksandr Lebed and billionaire eye surgeon Svyatoslav Fedorov both submitted the required million signatures yesterday that should qualify them for registration as official candidates in June's presidential election. (RTR, April 11) The Central Election Commission now has ten days in which to... MORE

Russian first deputy prime minister Oleg Soskovets, speaking only weeks before the Moscow nuclear security summit, said April 10 that Russia would proceed with the construction of a nuclear power plant at Bushehr in Iran, despite Washington's continuing objections to the project. "Russian-Iranian trade and... MORE

The lower house of the Russian parliament April 10 adopted in the first reading a law on land ownership specifically designed to frustrate the decree on the same subject issued March 7 by President Yeltsin. Yeltsin's decree confirmed the right of peasant farmers to leave... MORE

Kazakhstan's National Security Council Secretary Baltash Tursunbaev says that the country's leadership relies on international political organizations and regional security structures to ensure Kazakhstan's independence. "Considering Kazakhstan's exceptionally rich natural resources, the international community is interested in maintaining Kazakhstan's status as a sovereign state and... MORE

Amid continuing political and military deadlock in Chisinau, negotiations were held yesterday in Tiraspol by Chisinau and Transdniester delegations with Russian and Ukrainian mediators on Transdniester autonomy within Moldova. They discussed a Russian draft which enlarges on Chisinau's offer to grant Transdniester an autonomous republic... MORE

In Moscow yesterday, a few dozen children were accepted into the ranks of the new youth branch of Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party -- to be known as "Zhirinovsky's young falcons." The new recruits thanked Zhirinovsky for his struggle to ensure them a happy childhood.... MORE

A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman yesterday described as an "unfriendly act" the detainment and expulsion from Switzerland of Rostislav Dushak, a Russian diplomat. The spokesman said that Russia had presented a note of protest to the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs which called the... MORE

Russia found itself swimming against the stream again yesterday when it alone of the five "declared" nuclear powers chose not to sign protocols to a treaty that declared Africa free of nuclear weapons. Russia reportedly attributed its reservations about the Treaty of Pelindaba, which has... MORE

In its current issue, the Moscow ultranationalist-Communist weekly Zavtra professes concern that "people from Stanford and Georgetown, inserted by the Republicans in [U.S. president Bill] Clinton's entourage, have displaced Strobe Talbott, who is relatively loyal to Russia." (Zavtra, No. 14 , April 1996) Moscow Hesitates... MORE