The U.N. Secretary General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali yesterday issued a statement criticizing the Russian Duma's March 15 resolution to invalidate the dissolution of the USSR. "The resolutions are at variance with the universally recognized norms of international law and the U.N. charter... The CIS countries are... MORE

Presidents Algirdas Brazauskas of Lithuania, Lennart Meri of Estonia, and Guntis Ulmanis of Latvia yesterday issued a joint statement condemning the Russian Duma's March 15 resolutions to invalidate the dissolution of the USSR. Stressing the need to respect international law, the Baltic presidents endorsed the... MORE

The presidents of Russia and Georgia, Boris Yeltsin and Eduard Shevardnadze, have agreed at a meeting in Moscow to convene a conference of the presidents of the Russian Federation, its constituent republics in the North Caucasus, and the Transcaucasus countries of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.... MORE

Kazakhstan's president Nursultan Nazarbayev is expected to pay an official visit to Moscow next week and Boris Yeltsin is expected

In an unprecedented meeting yesterday with ambassadors of the CIS member countries, Duma Chairman Gennady Seleznev assured them that the Duma's March 15 resolution did not have the force of law and amounted to "a moral, civic-political act" not affecting the countries's sovereignty. He also... MORE

Moldovan president Mircea Snegur charged in a Reuter interview that "opponents are trying to make a mountain out of a molehill" over his takeover of the Defense Ministry. The Chairman of the governing Agrarian Party and Vice Chairman of parliament, Dumitru Motpan, told the same... MORE

Russia's Oneksimbank has suffered a setback in its efforts to take control of Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest nickel producer. Countermanding its own earlier ruling, the Moscow Arbitration Court forbade the bank to call an emergency meeting of shareholders. This was the court's second ruling... MORE

Komi has become the eighth of Russia's constituent republics to sign a power-sharing treaty with the federal center. At the signing ceremony in Moscow, President Yeltsin said the treaty gave Komi "maximum responsibility" for its own development, but that Moscow would help the republic to... MORE

NATO Secretary General Javier Solana brought much the same message to Moscow. In remarks to the press and during a meeting with Russian defense minister Pavel Grachev, Solana underscored the alliance's commitment to building a close working relationship with Russia and he urged Moscow to... MORE

If Yeltsin is the biggest winner, presidential hopeful Grigory Yavlinsky is the biggest loser. The fact that Yeltsin now looks like the only candidate strong enough to counter the Communists has shrunk Yavlinsky's chances of appearing as a serious contender. Writing in Kuranty, Viktor Bondarev... MORE