In an open letter released yesterday, Father Gleb Yakunin cautioned Russia's Duma against interfering in the affairs of Estonia's recently reestablished Orthodox church, which is independent of the Russian church. Yakunin urged the Duma not to politicize an ecclesiastical dispute under the pretext of defending... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin visited Belgorod Oblast in southwest Russia yesterday, campaigning hard for reelection. "The hardest period of the reforms is already over," he declared, and Russia can now afford to launch "an active social policy." Raising living standards is now the issue at the... MORE

One day after a series of agreements were concluded by their respective defense ministers on bilateral military cooperation, Warsaw and Moscow yesterday signed a separate agreement on arms deliveries, military technology, and the provision of defense-related services. Concluded in Warsaw by Polish trade minister Jacek... MORE

A report that is said to be "unusually sharply critical" of human rights violations by Russian federal forces in Chechnya has been submitted to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe by members of the OSCE mission in Grozny. The report has not been... MORE

A clash between Russia and the United States over Moscow's apparent unwillingness to disclose sensitive information on its arms exports has led to a breakdown in talks aimed at creating a new, post-Cold War regime for sales of military technology. The two days of talks... MORE

The Russian Procurator General is reported to have agreed, following a meeting with the head of the Duma's Auditing Chamber, that there appear to have been violations of the law by individual officials responsible for the privatization process. Legal action is expected to be initiated... MORE

Addressing a conference of agricultural managers and specialists, Azerbaijani president Heydar Aliyev called for a prompt start of agrarian reform. Aliev and other officials expressed concern over high grain imports and the sharp decline in the output and export of the country's traditional agricultural products:... MORE

The Russian command admitted today to having lost overnight at least 30 killed, 67 wounded, and 15 missing, all in just one battle in which Chechen resistance recaptured Goyskoe from the Russian forces. A Russian Su-25 fighter-bomber was also shot down during the battle. The... MORE

Ukrainian military officials accompanying Minister of Defense Valery Shmarov to Slovakia signed April 3 with Slovak counterparts a protocol on bilateral military-industrial cooperation. The sides will jointly develop certain types of military equipment, including aviation components, and will place orders with each other's military plants.... MORE

Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) director general Mikhail Barsukov conferred this week in Dushanbe with Tajik president Imomali Rahmonov on joint actions against "terrorism" and arms and drugs contraband. The two men also discussed "measures to stabilize the political situation in Tajikistan, achieve national conciliation,... MORE