The Russian government faces many difficulties in regulating the import of toxic waste into the country, an expert from the Russian Security Council interdepartmental ecological safety commission said January 6. According to Valery Menshchikov, foreign companies seeking to dispose of toxic or radioactive wastes have... MORE

The extent of an oil pipeline leak discovered December 26 near the town of Ufa was covered up by the state oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, a Bakshkortastan environmental official said yesterday. The leak occurred in a section of the Urals-Siberian oil pipeline that travels underneath... MORE

The U.N. Security Council voted January 5 to maintain sanctions on Iraq that were first imposed in August 1990, following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Russia has been one of a handful of states lobbying the U.N. to treat Iraq more sympathetically and has argued that... MORE

A group of Chechen fighters led by Dzhokhar Dudayev's son-in-law Salman Raduyev seized a hospital and maternity ward in Kizlyar, Dagestan early this morning. Kizlyar is located approximately 70 miles northeast of Grozny in the autonomous Russian republic of Dagestan. About 60 Chechen fighters are... MORE

1. Western and Russian agencies, January 5 & 6 2. Interfax, January 5 3. Reuter, January 5 4. Interfax, January 3 5. Interfax, January 5 6. Interfax, January 5 7. Interfax, January 6 8. Belarusian Radio, Interfax, January 5 and 6 9. Reuter, January 4... MORE

. Uzbek president Islam Karimov and his cabinet of ministers last week approved resolutions on the celebration of the 2,500th anniversary of the founding of Bukhara and Khiva. The resolutions create ministerial-level organizing committees and allocate funds for restoring historic and architectural sites in the... MORE

Russia and China will sign an agreement on nuclear cooperation in the areas of thermonuclear fusion, uranium mining and processing, and conversion of nuclear arms facilities, Russian atomic energy minister Viktor Mikhailov said January 6. According to Mikhailov, a series of other projects are being... MORE

Lithuania's foreign minister Povilas Gylys and defense minister Linas Linkevicius resigned from their posts January 5 in protest of Prime Minister Adolfas Slezevicius's "inappropriate" and "selfish" personal conduct in the country's banking scandal. Three board members of the Bank of Lithuania resigned the same day,... MORE

Russian coastal guard ships off Abkhazia's main city and seaport Sukhumi reimposed January 5 a partial blockade on Abkhaz-owned ships bound for Turkey. The Abkhaz Supreme Soviet urged the following day that the blockade be lifted and that Georgia's proposals for Russian economic and military... MORE

The impending change of leadership in Japan will neither affect Russian-Japanese relations nor alter Moscow's stand on ownership of the disputed Kurile Islands, said deputy Russian foreign minister Aleksandr Panov January 6.(16) Ryutaro Hashimoto is expected to become Japanese prime minister later this week, replacing... MORE