Aleksandr Nikitin, a former Russian sailor charged with treason for work done while employed by the Oslo-based Bellona Foundation, has been prohibited by the St. Petersburg prosecutors office from choosing his own defense lawyer. Yuri Schmidt, who is representing Nikitin before the Russian constitutional court,... MORE

As has been the case in his recent meetings with leaders from Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov's first visit to Warsaw produced amicable statements on bilateral relations in general, positive pledges to broaden economic ties, and no apparent resolution... MORE

Russian first deputy prime minister Oleg Soskovets held talks in Moscow March 13 with the president of Japan's Sumitomo Corporation. The two discussed Sumitomo's possible participation in the development of coal mines in the Russian Far East, in Russian defense conversion projects, and in the... MORE

The number of Russian arms producers licensed to export weapons independently has been raised to eight, but they will reportedly remain subject to tight government controls. According to a spokesman for the official Russian state arms trading company, Rosvooruzheniye, the procedure to secure a go-ahead... MORE

Chairman of the Paris Club of creditor nations, Christian Noyet, and reached provisional agreement on rescheduling Russia's debts to the Club. (3) Oleg Davydov, minister for foreign economic relations, said an official announcement of the deferment will be made as soon as Noyet has consulted... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin, who suffered two heart attacks last year, appeared on Russian Television last night and reassured viewers that he was fit enough to serve a second term in office. (2) Yeltsin appeared vigorous and healthy in an interview screened to mark the fifth... MORE

Russia's Duma debates today a draft resolution, submitted by the Communist, Agrarian, and People's Power blocs, on reintegrating the peoples of the former Soviet Union and canceling the Russian Supreme Soviet's December 12, 1991 decision which abrogated the 1922 treaty on the formation of the... MORE

Turkmen officials yesterday reaffirmed support for plans to build a gas export pipeline of 28 billion cubic meters annual capacity to Europe via Iran and Turkey. The pipeline's stretch to the Iranian border is nearly complete. Turkey's Botas company has planned the segment through Turkey.... MORE

Estonia yesterday turned down a Latvian proposal to establish an economic zone of both countries or "gray zone" in the rich fishing grounds of the Gulf of Riga, pending a final adjudication. Estonia has drawn a line in the Gulf, which Latvia considers indivisible. (BNS,... MORE

A leading Russian opponent of capital punishment has charged that Moscow is feverishly speeding up the pace of executions in Russia and suggested that the obligation to end capital punishment, required by the Council of Europe, is one of the causes. Moscow has resisted the... MORE