President Boris Yeltsin yesterday named Yevgeny Primakov, director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) since December 1991, to succeed Andrei Kozyrev as Foreign Minister. Although he been considered previously as a replacement for the embattled Kozyrev, Primakov's appointment was unexpected at this time. Primakov,... MORE

The Communist party of Ukraine has launched a petition drive in favor of a referendum on key provisions of the draft constitution, a party spokesman announced yesterday. The current draft has President Leonid Kuchma's endorsement and is now before the Supreme Council, but the communists... MORE

Describing Francois Mitterand as a valued supporter of democratic reforms in Russia, Boris Yeltsin paid tribute to the former French president upon his death January 8. In separate telegrams to Mitterand's wife and successor, current president Jacques Chirac, Yeltsin claimed Mitterand was one of the... MORE

Russian health officials yesterday refuted charges that abortion clinics in Moscow are selling human embryo tissue and cells abroad for profit. The charges were contained in a report by Germany's Spiegel TV, parts of which were aired January 7 on Russian television. Senior Russian health... MORE

A Russian-built cargo plane crashed January 8 just after taking off from Ndolo airport in Kinshasa, Zaire. The plane plowed into a crowded downtown market place, killing at least 200 people. Four Russian crew members who survived the crash with minor injuries were reportedly taken... MORE

Russian deputy foreign minister Viktor Posuvalyuk has called upon the Iraqi government to alleviate the suffering of its civilian population by agreeing to a U.N. resolution of April 1995. The resolution permits Baghdad to export limited quantities of oil in order to purchase food and... MORE

The Chechen detachment that yesterday seized a hospital and several adjacent buildings in Kyzlar, Dagestan released early this morning most of the 2,000 people they held hostage. About 200 members of the armed group, believed to have originally numbered 500, boarded eleven buses and two... MORE

1. Russian, Western news agencies, January 9 2. Reuter, Itar-Tass, January 8 3. Russian and Western agencies, January 4-5 4. Itar-Tass, Reuter, January 9 5. Reuter, January 7 6. Reuter, January 3 & 4; Interfax, January 5 & 6 7. Izvestiya, January 4 8. Sergei... MORE

The Russian border troop command in Tajikistan announced yesterday that its soldiers had killed 4 Tajik resistance fighters in Afghan territory. The fighters were allegedly planning to enter Tajikistan. According to the Russian account, the border troop unit fired across the Pyanj river (which forms... MORE

Speaking on radio yesterday, Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze said that "combining political means with the use of force is the only way" to bring peace to Abkhazia. "The example of Bosnia very clearly demonstrates how this combination should be applied," Shevardnadze said. He noted that... MORE