Speakers addressing the U.S.-Russia Business Council yesterday assured representatives of some 240 leading U.S. companies involved in the Russian economy that economic reforms will continue in Russia regardless of the outcome of June's presidential elections. U.S. national security advisor Anthony Lake suggested to the group... MORE

Western European governments, which regard Boris Yeltsin's reelection as preferable to a victory by Communist Gennady Zyuganov, reacted positively yesterday to Yeltsin's latest Chechnya peace initiative. But there was an undercurrent of skepticism as to whether it has any chance of bringing peace to the... MORE

President Mintimer Shaimiev of Tatarstan, who in February published his own plan for a solution to the Chechen conflict, has reacted positively to President Yeltsin's proposals for ending the war. Shaimiev said he was gratified that Yeltsin had overcome the influence of defense and law... MORE

Notwithstanding President Boris Yeltsin's announcement of a cease-fire as of March 31, Russian forces continued bombing and shelling Chechen villages in the western Achkhoy-Martan district and the southeastern Nozhay-Yurt and Vedeno districts. The commander of Russian forces in Chechnya, Lt. General Vyacheslav Tikhomirov said --... MORE

An April Fool's day joke played yesterday by the Russian Itar-Tass news agency caused as much anxiety as laughter in at least two east European capitals. Itar-Tass's false report that the Russian Duma was considering revival of the former Soviet Warsaw Pact military alliance was... MORE

According to a Moscow environmental group, there are now about 1,500 enterprises in the Russian capital that use radioactive materials, as well as some 100 nuclear waste storage facilities. Several research institutes are said to discharge purified wastes into a local brook that empties into... MORE

At its congress just held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan's People's Party defined its role as "supporting the legitimate authorities" while criticizing their possible "erroneous steps," but "without discrediting them." The party favors a multi-party system, but cautions against private ownership and an "uncontrolled market economy." Party... MORE

Russian defense minister Pavel Grachev agreed yesterday in Tbilisi that Georgia can have a few warships from the Black Sea fleet. Grachev also agreed that Russian troops would repair and guard the Abkhaz stretch of the Russia-Transcaucasus railroad, a Georgian lifeline now largely under Abkhaz... MORE

Interviewed April 1 on the RTR television channel, Russian finance minister Vladimir Panskov predicted that the problem of wage arrears would be resolved only "60-70 percent" this year and that the best-case scenario would see them paid in full only by the end of 1997.... MORE

Russian presidential spokesman Sergei Medvedev yesterday denied allegations printed last week in the Washington Times that the Russian and American presidents had made a political deal during talks March 13 in Egypt. (See Monitor, April 1) Medvedev, who was present at the talks, said no... MORE