A telephone call yesterday from Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma to Boris Yeltsin on the occasion of the latter's sixty-fifth birthday resulted in the Russian president agreeing to visit Kiev April 4 and 5. It is presumed that Yeltsin will sign the Russian-Ukrainian friendship treaty during... MORE

Dispelling uncertainty that persisted until the last moment, Admiral Eduard Baltin yesterday received official notification relieving him of command of the Black Sea fleet. The order, in a telegram from Russian defense minister Pavel Grachev, followed a decree issued January 27 by President Yeltsin and... MORE

The chairman of the Duma Geopolitics Committee said February 1 that the committee's energies will be devoted primarily to Balkan and Kurdish issues, China's relations with Taiwan, the two Koreas, and the Caucasus region. Aleksei Mitrofanov told a news conference that resolution of these problems... MORE

Russia's semi-official Itar-Tass news agency has announced that Michel Camdessus, head of the International Monetary Fund, will visit Moscow in late February. (9) The announcement fueled speculation that the IMF has decided to continue backing Russian economic reform by granting the three-year budget support loan... MORE

The conclusion January 31 of an interim trade agreement between Russia and the European Union (See Monitor, February 1) reflects a change in the EU's attitude toward the conflict in Chechnya, according to a Russian government source. The parliament of the European Union had issued... MORE

. Russian first deputy prime minister Oleg Soskovets told reporters February 1 that the government will allocate an additional 7 trillion rubles ($1.5 billion) in defense spending this year. Although initial reports were unclear, it appeared that the new funding will be earmarked for defense... MORE

At a January 31 briefing, Lt. General Vyacheslav Tikhomirov, commander of Russian forces in Chechnya, ruled out any resumption of talks with representatives of ousted Chechen president Dzhokhar Dudayev. Tikhomirov said the Russian command plans to attack Chechen forces on a district-by-district basis, create "peace... MORE

Vladimir Lukin, a moderate in the Duma who favors ratification of the START II Treaty, suggested January 31 that it might nevertheless be best to postpone any ratification vote until after the upcoming presidential election. Lukin argued that the issue had become too politicized in... MORE

Under a Communist government, Russia would seek the peaceful restoration of the USSR and rebuild the nation's superpower status, according to the leader of the Communist party. Gennady Zyuganov said in the New York Times February 1 that the "disruption of military and strategic parity... MORE

Close to one million coal miners throughout the Russian Federation and Ukraine walked off their jobs yesterday, the first day of an indefinite strike to demand back wages and continued government subsidies for their troubled industry. In Russia, the work stoppage began in the far... MORE