The speaker of the Crimean parliament, Yevgeny Suprunyuk, told a press conference in Simferopol yesterday he is sure that the "Autonomous Republic of Crimea" and its constitution will be included in the final draft of the Ukrainian Constitution. Both are lacking from the draft that... MORE

. Russian Presidential Council member and Europe Institute Director Sergei Karaganov declared yesterday that Russia needs a "transit corridor for free access" to Koenigsberg/Kaliningrad region through Polish territory. Karaganov recommended that Moscow persuade Poland that a stronger Russian presence in the Baltic region meets Polish... MORE

The commander of Sweden's Royal Navy, Admiral Peter Nordbeck, is visiting the Baltic states this week to review and expand naval cooperation programs. The programs include delivery of Swedish coast guard ships and other naval equipment to the Baltic states, joint practice of mine-laying and... MORE

The new chairman of Russia's Federation Council and of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, Yegor Stroyev, yesterday urged CIS countries to move faster in adopting special laws on the "rights of Russian speakers" and the acquisition of dual citizenship by this part of their populations. At... MORE

Retired general and presidential hopeful Aleksandr Lebed called yesterday for the creation of a presidential task force to organize the return to Russia of illegally exported capital. "If I lose the elections, I'll head the force myself," Lebed said. "If I win, I have a... MORE

The Agrarian parliamentary faction called a press conference in Moscow yesterday and roundly denounced both President Yeltsin's March 7 decree legalizing the free sale of land and the black sheep of the Agrarian Party, Aleksandr Zaveryukha. Zaveryukha, until recently a leading member of the party,... MORE

Yeltsin's campaign, which has been criticized for being slow to get off the ground, is gradually gathering steam. It was joined yesterday by a further 16 political organizations, bringing to 256 the number of groups joining the movement set up last month by Yeltsin's aide... MORE

Only weeks after a series of clashes between the European Union and Russia over Moscow's threats to raise import tariffs on European goods (See Monitor, February 21 & March 4), the two sides found themselves at it again yesterday following the Kremlin's announcement that it... MORE

Meanwhile, conservative party chiefs from twenty-nine European countries lambasted Moscow in Paris yesterday, dismissing the Kremlin's presumed right to veto NATO enlargement and criticizing its human rights abuses. Participants of the one-day meeting of the Democratic European Union (UDE), hosted by French prime minister Alain... MORE

A report issued yesterday by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) painted an alarming picture of lax security at nuclear sites throughout the former Soviet Union and concluded that governments there cannot fully account for weapons-grade uranium and plutonium stockpiled on their territories. Investigators concluded... MORE