At least half of the foreign ministers of CIS member countries failed to attend a scheduled January 12 meeting in Moscow, passing up the opportunity to meet Russia's new foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov. Instead, the absent ministers sent their deputies to the meeting, which was... MORE

U.S. State Department officials claim that Moscow is close to completing a sale of high enriched uranium (HEU) to Europe. That sale would undermine U.S. efforts over the last 20 years to eliminate the market for weapons grade uranium. Protests from Washington have apparently not... MORE

In his first meeting with journalists, Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov suggested that Moscow would pursue an activist foreign policy commensurate with Russia's status as a great power. He claimed Moscow had no desire to resuscitate the Soviet Union and said relations with the CIS... MORE

According to presidential national security advisor Yuri Baturin, Russia today faces no immediate external threats. Baturin said Russia should take advantage of this breathing space to pursue two domestic tasks essential to the nation's well-being: construction of a constitutional system, and economic revival. Baturin's views... MORE

A Chechen detachment was reported to have seized up to 40 civilians, mainly Russian construction workers, in Chechnya's capital this morning. The captors' precise identity and demands were not immediately clear. In recent days, Russian command and intelligence services have worried that Chechen commander Shamil... MORE

Yeltsin appears to have gambled that the assault in Dagestan would be perceived as a decisive move that would spare the Kremlin the humiliation it suffered in June 1995, when Chechen hostage-takers returned home safely after the Budennovsk hostage seizure. However, initial reactions from Russian... MORE

Crack units of Russia's internal affairs ministry and federal security service yesterday morning launched an assault on Pervomaiskoe village in Dagestan, where an estimated 200 Chechen fighters held some 120 hostages. The hostages were seized the preceding week in Kyzlar, Dagestan. According to reports from... MORE

In a move that signaled a further strengthening of hard-line elements within the Russian government, Nikolai Yegorov was named presidential chief of staff yesterday. Yegorov replaces Sergei Filatov, one of the few remaining liberals around Yeltsin. The new staff chief is believed to be close... MORE

1. Interfax, January 11; Reuter, January 11&12 2. Reuter, January 11 3. Reuter, January 11 4. Interfax, January 11 5. Reuter, January 10 6. Interfax, January 11 7. BBC World Service, "World Business Report," January 10 8. FIA-Interfax, January 11 9. Russian TV, January 10... MORE

Senior Chevron Oil executives paid a three-day visit to Georgia this week to examine the country's oil transport infrastructure and to consider possible Chevron participation in its development. Talks focused on the Trans-Georgian pipeline, which the international oil consortium in Azerbaijan seeks to use to... MORE