In a resolution on measures to resolve the conflict in Abkhazia, the presidents of CIS member countries reaffirmed that Abkhazia constitutes an integral part of Georgia and imposed comprehensive economic sanctions on the breakaway region. The leaders pledged that CIS countries would abstain from any... MORE

A lawyer for the Rybinsk Motors joint-stock company said Monday that the company would protest a January 15 decision opening the way for the government to sell its 37 percent share in the company. The decision was made by Russia's Supreme Court of Arbitration. Yaroslavl-based... MORE

Tel Aviv is confident that the appointment of Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov will not disturb Russian-Israeli relations, Israel's ambassador to Russia said yesterday. Aliza Shenhar said the disintegration of the USSR had brought Moscow from a policy of "support for Arab extremists to a... MORE

Russia's Foreign Ministry yesterday praised the conduct of Saturday's elections in Palestine as an historic step forward for democracy. The Ministry appeared to attach equal importance to potential significance of the elections for Moscow. Deputy Foreign Minister Viktor Posuvalyuk described President-elect Yasser Arafat as an... MORE

In a move partly aimed at prodding Moscow to do the same, the U.S. Defense Department yesterday for the first time revealed the size of the U.S. chemical weapons arsenal: 3.6 million weapons. Both the U.S. and Russia signed the landmark 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention,... MORE

Following talks yesterday in Moscow with President Boris Yeltsin and Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov, French foreign minister Herve de Charette said he was satisfied with the Kremlin's determination to maintain democracy and economic reform in Russia. Although Primakov has been characterized as a hard-liner likely... MORE

Yegor Gaidar, who as acting prime minister launched economic reform in Russia in 1992, resigned yesterday from the Presidential Council in protest over Yeltsin's handling of the Pervomaiskoye hostage crisis. (9) Because the Presidential Council has only scant advisory power, his resignation has only symbolic... MORE

Russian Duma chairman Gennady Seleznev said yesterday that heated debate might accompany Russia's admission to the Council of Europe, revealing that certain European parliamentarians had requested "detailed information on the tragic events in Kizlyar and Pervomaiskoye." Seleznev is part of a Russian delegation in Strasbourg... MORE

At the opening session of the newly-constituted Federation Council today, President Boris Yeltsin vowed to crush armed rebels in Chechnya. Although he said he hoped the conflict could be resolved through dialogue, Yeltsin again ruled out negotiations with Chechen rebel leader General Dzhokhar Dudayev. (7)... MORE

The Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) yesterday accused Russia of blatantly violating international law in Chechnya and urged the Council of Europe to freeze discussion of Russia's admission to the body. While "unequivocally denouncing" Chechen fighters for also breaching international law by taking innocent... MORE