The French government is examining ways to upgrade Russia's ties with leading Western institutions, but expansion of the G-7 to a "G-8" that would include Russia is apparently not on the immediate agenda. France is currently chairing the G-7. Summit meetings of the group of... MORE

The first high-level changes in the Russian Foreign Ministry since the appointment of Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov earlier this month confirm that Russian diplomacy is being refocused away from the West and toward the CIS states. As a leading Moscow daily put it, the changes... MORE

Addressing business leaders at the World Business Forum in Davos, Switzerland yesterday, former First Deputy Premier Anatoly Chubais said the election of Gennady Zyuganov as president of Russia would inevitably lead to bloodshed. Zyuganov is leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and... MORE

Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin left Moscow February 2 for two weeks' vacation. Although a spokesman denied the timing of the vacation was in any way connected with President Yeltsin's announcement of his intention to run for re-election -- expected between February 12 and 15 --... MORE

1. Interfax, February 3 2. Interfax, Reuter, February 3 and 4 3. Reuter, February 4 4. Izvestiya, February 3 5. UPI & Interfax, February 2 6. Interfax, March 10, 1995 7. Financial Times, February 5 8. Interfax, February 3 and 4 9. Segodnya, February 1... MORE

Azerbaijan's president Heydar Aliyev has declared the Gabala radar station "property of Azerbaijan" by presidential decree. The measure means that the station will "never be a Russian military base," Azerbaijan's defense minister Safar Abiev said in an interview. Abiev had discussed the issue with his... MORE

The leaders of Transdniester canceled a meeting scheduled for January 31 with Moldova's top leadership. The meeting was to have discussed the resumption of political negotiations toward a settlement of the Transdniester conflict. Tiraspol justified its decision to back out of the talks by citing... MORE

Yevhen Dovzhok, chairman of the Ukrainian State Committee on the Oil and Gas Industry, heads a delegation to Moscow this week to reopen stalled talks on the price of transporting Russian oil over Ukrainian territory via the Druzhba pipeline. In the first week of January,... MORE

Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski told participants of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland over the weekend that Poland's bid to join NATO was directed neither at Russia nor Ukraine. Instead, the Polish leader -- a former Communist -- described the inclusion of Poland, Hungary, and... MORE

Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky published an appeal "To Stop the War in Chechnya" in Izvestiya February 1. He pledged to immediately stop the "senseless massacre" if elected president. Yavlinsky proposed a four-point peace plan based on the withdrawal of Russian troops and a determination of... MORE