Proclaiming its desire "to demonstrate solidarity with Cuba" and to continue friendly economic and political contacts, a delegation of Russian Duma deputies arrived in Havana April 4. The group is led by Vitaly Sevastyanov, who reiterated the Duma's opposition to U.S. economic sanctions leveled against... MORE

One day after North Korea's April 4 renunciation of the buffer zone provisions in the 43-year-old armistice ending the Korean War, a senior Russian Foreign Ministry official called upon Pyongyang "to show restraint and not to allow things to be pushed to the edge." A... MORE

The inflation rate in Russia in March was 2.8 percent, the same as February's record low. (Russian Radio, April 5) Zhirinovsky Registered.

Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky has become the third officially registered candidate in the Russian presidential elections. Claiming to be the best alternative to the other two candidates so far registered -- incumbent President Boris Yeltsin and Communist party candidate Gennady Zyuganov -- Zhirinovsky... MORE

Boris Yeltsin addressed a congress of the national organization of supporters of his reelection in Moscow on Saturday, but confined himself to generalities about democracy and the family. He said he would announce his full election program only in May. "I wasn't satisfied with the... MORE

The Moscow branch of the international environmental group Greenpeace declared victory over Russia's Atomic Energy Ministry April 5 following a Supreme Court decision that struck down portions of a January 1995 presidential decree. The decree would have permitted a mining-chemical combine in the Siberian town... MORE

U.S. Ambassador to NATO Robert Hunter conferred yesterday in Almaty with Kazakhstan's defense minister Alibek Kasymov and other officials on the country's activities in the NATO Partnership for Peace program. Discussions focused on Kazakhstan's participation in PFP joint military exercises in 1996 and on ensuring... MORE

The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) yesterday announced the distribution of shares in the $4 billion project to develop the Shah-Deniz oil and gas field off the country's Caspian shore. British Petroleum and Norway's Statoil, acting as a consortium, have a stake of 25.5... MORE

Moldova's Constitutional Court yesterday ruled President Mircea Snegur's moves to gain control of the country's Defense Ministry unconstitutional. The Court found that Snegur's March 15 dismissal of the country's defense minister and appointment of another minister in his place violated several constitutional articles and other... MORE

Latvia's government declared April 3 a demarcation line for fishing purposes in disputed Gulf of Riga waters, effective April 15. The government ordered Latvian gunboats to monitor fishing by Latvian trawlers in the disputed areas. The demarcation line follows the medial line between the coasts... MORE