Deputy prime ministers Anatol Kinakh of Ukraine and Valentin Kunev of Moldova signed yesterday in Chisinau a protocol on establishing free bilateral trade. The protocol commits the two countries to discussions over the next six months concerning the possibility of creating a Ukrainian-Moldovan customs union.... MORE

The Congress of Russian Communities (KRO) nominated retired Lt. General Aleksandr Lebed for president January 11. The nomination formalized the December 28 endorsement made by the party's national council. In terms of the public persona of KRO, the nomination elevates Lebed above party co-leader Yuri... MORE

The Communist party, still dizzy with success from its December 17 election victory, holds a plenary session today at an undisclosed location in Moscow. The party plans to nominate its candidates for Russian president and speaker of the Duma at the session. While Gennady Zyuganov... MORE

Several politicians publicly blamed federal authorities for precipitating the latest hostage crisis. Sergei Kovalev, deputy to the new Duma and chairman of the Russian presidential human rights commission, said the December elections in Chechnya were a cause of the hostage seizure. Calling the elections a... MORE

Russian defense minister Pavel Grachev told reporters January 10 that he had no intention of resigning and expects to remain defense minister at least until the 1996 Presidential election. (16) Much like former foreign minister Andrei Kozyrev, who resigned this month, Grachev has survived numerous... MORE

A Russian government spokesman said yesterday that neither the government nor Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin had received any instructions to enter into negotiations with the Chechen fighters holding hostages in Dagestan. The same official was quoted as saying that Boris Yeltsin had ordered army General... MORE

National Bank official Valery Dashkevich remarked yesterday that Belarusian governmental organizations and state-owned enterprises may concentrate their finances in a single bank fully controlled by the government. Once key financial indicators are set by the larger monopoly, the remaining forty-odd banks in Belarus would undergo... MORE

Presidential press secretary Sergei Medvedev suggested to Interfax January 10 that Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin's recommendation had been instrumental in Boris Yeltsin's decision to name Yevgeny Primakov foreign minister. Primakov formerly directed the Russian foreign intelligence service. (9) A Russian newspaper reported that Primakov in... MORE

Although Russian first deputy prime minister Anatoly Chubais has denied rumors that he plans to resign, a news source reported yesterday that Western lenders are concerned about his future. The IMF's cooperation with Chubais and his colleagues "has been very useful, especially in the past... MORE

At a meeting in Paris, Boris Yeltsin and French president Jacques Chirac decided to establish a joint commission headed by Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and his French counterpart Alain Juppe, a presidential spokesman reported yesterday. The body will be modeled on the U.S.-Russian Gore-Chernomyrdin commission... MORE