President Boris Yeltsin's security advisor, Yuri Baturin, has denied reports that a March 18 meeting of the Russian Security Council reacted to the Duma's call for the restoration of the USSR by making contingency plans to impose a state of emergency, dissolve the Duma, and... MORE

CIS Executive Secretary Ivan Korotchenya last week made public a schedule of high-level CIS meetings in the weeks ahead: the Defense Ministers' Council, March 27; the Foreign Ministers' Council, April 2; the prime ministers, April 12; and the presidents, May 17; all in Moscow. (Itar-Tass,... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin denied today that Russia and Belarus are to unite in a single state. "Someone has got things wrong," Yeltsin said in a clear reference to Belarussian president Aleksandr Lukashenko. Yeltsin was speaking to journalists this morning before leaving on an official... MORE

The crew of a Russian Il-76 plane seized last August by Taliban rebels in Afghanistan is unlikely to be released any time soon, an official of the Tatarstan president's office said yesterday. During talks in Quandahar March 17, the rebels continued to demand a list... MORE

Turkey's newly appointed foreign minister, Emre Gonensay, said yesterday that Ankara continues to place a high priority on good political and economic relations with Russia. He is to visit Moscow soon at the invitation of the Russian Foreign Ministry. His deputy is currently in Russia.... MORE

The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis docked smoothly with Russia's Mir space station March 23. It was the third link-up of the two spacecraft since June 1995 and begins a period of 26 months during which at least one American will be working on board Mir.... MORE

Viktor Chernomyrdin approved an allocation schedule March 23 that is to ensure payment to defense enterprises for the provision of military hardware. A government spokesman said that it was the first time in four years that the procurement payment schedule had been approved in the... MORE

The Libyan news agency JANA has reported that a message from Boris Yeltsin to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi expresses Russia's support for Libya "in facing the unjust measures imposed on it" by the UN Security Council. The note was reportedly handed over by Russian deputy... MORE

The chief of the Russian Defense Ministry's finance and budget department told the Russian Duma March 22 that wage arrears in the armed forces now amount to some 4 trillion rubles (approximately $800 million). He urged the Duma to take rapid

The government of Kyrgyzstan has announced a plan to merge its hydroelectrical energy system with Russia's unified energy system. Hydroelectric power generation is one of Kyrgyzstan's very few sectors with a strong export potential. Under the plan, the Russian side will acquire a 49 percent... MORE