The Estonian parliament approved January 23 President Lennart Meri's nomination of Colonel Johannes Kert as commander of Estonia's armed forces. Kert was previously commander of the national paramilitary defense league Kaitseliit. Addressing the parliament, Kert said a system of total defense -- including popular mobilization... MORE

In an open letter to Boris Yeltsin January 23, Yevreiskaya gazeta's editorial board chairman Tankred Golenpolsky asked the president to dismiss federal security service chief General Mikhail Barsukov for his "racist insults" to the Chechen people. At a televised news conference, Barsukov had pretended to... MORE

Russia is prepared to join the Korea Energy Development Organization (KEDO), but only on terms attractive to its Atomic Energy Ministry, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said yesterday. (8) Although those terms were not spelled out, presumably they involve offering Moscow a contract to build at... MORE

U.S. General George Joulwan, supreme allied commander in Europe, yesterday visited Russia's 199th airborne regiment in the city of Naro-Fominsk. Hosted by the commander of Russian airborne forces Col. General Yevgeny Podkolzin, Joulwan observed a full program of exercises. A day earlier, Joulwan had described... MORE

Two Russian dailies have suggested that the surprise January 23 removal of the chairman of the State Defense Committee (see Monitor, January 24) had less to do with his performance than with his politics. Komsomolskaya pravda and Izvestiya speculate that Viktor Glukhikh fell into disfavor... MORE

Moscow plans to emphasize Russian trade links with Asia in the coming decades, Foreign Trade Minister Oleg Davydov declared yesterday. Confirming Russia's avowed intent to reorient itself toward the east, Davydov said the new "strategic line" had been approved by Boris Yeltsin. While South Korea... MORE

In a peculiar juxtaposition of policy statements, Primakov linked his ministry's proposal of assistance to Russian regions to the strengthening of Moscow's authority vis-a-vis the regions as well as to protecting the rights of Russian-speakers abroad. The foreign minister criticized regional leaders for their independent... MORE

Academician Sergei Alekseev, a jurist who drafted parts of Russia's 1993 constitution, has resigned from Yeltsin's presidential council in protest over the conduct of the war in Chechnya. His resignation makes him the fourth person to leave the 28-member advisory body within the past week,... MORE

Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky said in Cologne January 23 that Russia would be better off staying out of the debate on NATO enlargement. "If Warsaw wants to join NATO, this is Poland's business and none of Russia's," he was quoted as saying. His remarks were... MORE

Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov yesterday told a consultative council of Russian regional representatives in Moscow that his ministry would promote their economic interests abroad. Primakov pledged to increase the facilities available to regional representatives at Russian embassies and promised specific assistance to regional business... MORE