A top Russian diplomat called March 25 for the UN Security Council to review its economic sanctions against Libya, leveled in 1992 for Tripoli's refusal to hand over two suspects in the 1988 bombing of a jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland. Andrei Vdovin urged the Council... MORE

Academician Leonid Abalkin, head of Moscow's Institute of Economics and a former advisor to the Gorbachev government, has told Interfax in an interview that Russia's reintegration not only with the CIS states, but also with the states of Eastern Europe is a positive and necessary... MORE

Communist presidential candidate Gennady Zyuganov, campaigning in Barnaul in Russia's Far East, said yesterday that he will present his economic program to the Duma early next month and that experts are working on other programs which will be published as the June election approaches. Yeltsin... MORE

Boris Yeltsin's two-day visit to Oslo came to a close yesterday with the signing of four agreements, but with little progress in resolving differences over NATO enlargement. The agreements included a declaration on principles of relations between Russia and Norway, an agreement on trade and... MORE

Specialists from Russia's nuclear weapons establishment warned yesterday that Moscow might resort to harsh measures to counter NATO's eastward expansion. Igor Andryushin and Aleksandr Chernyshev of the Arzamas-16 nuclear research center said that an expanded NATO "would considerably surpass Russia in its military-technical potential" and... MORE

The International Monetary Fund gave formal approval yesterday to a three-year extended loan to Russia worth $10.2 billion. (BBC World Service, March 27) This is the second largest loan in the IMF's history. The decision is seen as a vote of confidence in Russia's reform... MORE

An organizer of the Russian fleet's upcoming 300-year anniversary celebration announced yesterday a campaign to solicit funds for the completion of eight new warships for the country's cash-strapped navy and border guard service. The official said that several major banks and businesses had already signed... MORE

Russia's Foreign Ministry announced yesterday that Moscow anticipates playing an active role in an international conference on anti-terrorism scheduled to convene in Washington March 28-29. The meeting is a follow-up to the Egyptian Sharm el-Sheikh summit which took place March 13. (Itar-Tass, March 26) Navy... MORE

In a show of support for Warsaw yesterday that pointedly criticized Moscow for attempting to halt NATO enlargement, Queen Elizabeth II told the Polish parliament that "we strongly support the enlargement of the European Union and NATO... and we are determined that aim cannot be... MORE

Following talks in Washington, U.S. vice president Al Gore announced March 25 that U.S. poultry exports to Russia will resume. The month-long dispute was resolved when Russian negotiators accepted that the U.S. exports were safe while the United States agreed to tighten inspection procedures. Talks... MORE