Russian president Boris Yeltsin is concerned over a NATO military exercise in Norway, near Russia's border, a presidential spokesman said yesterday. (7) The statement echoed complaints made February 26 by a Russian military commander, who charged that the exercises reflect a Cold War mentality and... MORE

A spokesman for Russian president Boris Yeltsin denied yesterday that Moscow had agreed to soften its opposition to NATO enlargement as part of a deal to win membership in the Council of Europe. "I underline here again that there is no softening and will be... MORE

Moscow's tortuous three-year quest to win membership in the Council of Europe came to a successful close yesterday as Russia became the 39th member, and the 15th former Communist state, to join Europe's oldest transnational political organization. Russia had first formally applied for membership in... MORE

Aleksandr Kazakov, who last month succeeded Anatoly Chubais as chairman of Russia's State Property Committee, said in Moscow yesterday that his ministry will concentrate in the future more on managing state property efficiently than on selling it off. (3) "The strategic policy of privatization has... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin may issue a decree this week giving individuals and families the right to perpetual tenure of agricultural land that they have until now rented from the state and used for private agriculture, government sources are quoted as saying. (1) The decree is... MORE

1. Interfax, February 27; for background, see Financial Times, February 23 2. Financial Times, February 28 3. Interfax, NTV, February 27 4. Interfax, February 23 5. Rossiiskie vesti, Interfax, Nezavisimaya gazeta, February 27 6. Interfax, February 27 7. UPI & Reuter, February 23 8. UPI... MORE

Petrochemical firms from Japan, Germany, France, and Turkey and the state oil company of Iran have signed investment contracts with Turkmenistan's Oil and Gas Ministry to modernize and expand the oil refinery in the Caspian city of Turkmenbashi (formerly Krasnovodsk). The multifaceted project, worth nearly... MORE

Russian Communist leader and presidential candidate Gennady Zyuganov, Duma chairman Gennady Seleznev, and other Russian Communist parliamentarians conferred in Kiev February 26 and 27 with the Ukrainian parliament's socialist chairman, Oleksandr Moroz and Socialist and Communist party leaders. The visitors sought to reassure Ukraine that... MORE

At yesterday's meeting with Lukashenko in Moscow, Yeltsin proposed negotiations with Poland for permission to build a road link across northeastern Poland to Russian-held Koenigsberg/Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea. Poland's Foreign and Transportation Ministries responded within hours that they had not been notified earlier about... MORE

The presidents of Russia and Belarus, Boris Yeltsin and Aleksandr Lukashenko discussed "reintegration" in the Kremlin yesterday. They signed an agreement on settling mutual financial debts and claims, mainly Belarus' debts to Russia for energy supplies and overdue Russian reimbursement to Belarus for cleanup at... MORE