The New York Times reports today that Russia has dropped plans for a 20 percent hike in import tariffs in order to clear the way for the first tranche of the $10.2 billion loan promised by the IMF. The board of directors of the IMF... MORE

The Abkhaz authorities last

Latvian president Guntis Ulmanis last week expressed admiration for "Chechen fortitude in the face of a superpower and determination to defend national independence," and expressed the wish that the Russian government would live up to the promise to settle the conflict politically. Latvia's Foreign Ministry... MORE

On the eve of Russian president Boris Yeltsin's first trip to Norway, scheduled for today and tomorrow, Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland told Itar-Tass that cooperation between the two countries has never been better. An accord on bilateral relations and several trade and economic... MORE

During talks that both sides described as positive, Russian president Boris Yeltsin and visiting Japanese foreign minister Yukihiko Ikeda agreed March 20 to expand economic relations and reaffirmed a 1993 agreement -- the Tokyo Declaration -- that calls for an early and peaceful resolution of... MORE

Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin told participants of the Contact Group meeting in Moscow March 23 that peace in Bosnia remains fragile and thus

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov has denied a report, carried in Nezavisimaya gazeta March 23, that none of the action groups supporting Yeltsin's candidacy is anywhere near collecting the one million signatures necessary for his official registration as a candidate. Luzhkov said five action groups have... MORE

Mintimer Shaimiev was re-elected president of the republic of Tatarstan in central Russia on Sunday. (Independent Television, Interfax, March 24) The result came as no surprise since Shaimiev, who enjoys considerable prestige in the republic, ran unopposed. The reason was that none of the opposition... MORE

Moscow and Washington moved forward on two key arms control issues during talks March 22, but they continued to stumble over NATO expansion. Following talks in Moscow with Boris Yeltsin and Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov, U.S. secretary of state Warren Christopher declared that "enormous progress"... MORE

Russia's presidential campaign took a melodramatic twist March 22 when the Duma factions responsible for the March 15 resolution denouncing the Belovezhye accord issued a public appeal to the armed forces. Signed by, among others, Communist party leader Gennady Zyuganov, Liberal Democratic party leader Vladimir... MORE