Latest Monitor Articles
KREMLIN SOUNDS POPULIST THEMES.
A statement released by the presidential press service following a January 4 meeting between President Yeltsin and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin stressed the populist side of their discussions. Chernomyrdin was reported to have briefed the president on "steps the government is taking to ensure that... MORE
GRACHEV PUSHES CLOSER SECURITY RELATIONS WITH UKRAINE.
Speaking to various audiences in Kiev January 4, Russian defense minister Pavel Grachev underscored Russia's desire to create a CIS multilateral security system and called for closer cooperation with Ukraine within the CIS framework. He added that Russia would propose a one-year extension of the... MORE
LEBED WILL NOT SEEK DUMA DEFENSE POST.
Retired Lt. General Aleksandr Lebed said January 4 that it would be "senseless" for him to seek the post of chairman of the Duma defense committee because the Congress of Russian Communities (KRO) had won only meager representation in the new parliament. Lebed is co-leader... MORE
IRAN AND AZERBAIJAN TO DISCUSS OIL EXTRACTION.
After meeting with the director of an Iranian oil drilling facility in southwestern Iran, a delegation of senior oil officials from Azerbaijan will soon arrive in Teheran for talks, reported the Iranian state news agency yesterday. The two sides are due to discuss the creation... MORE
RUSSIA TAKES STEPS TOWARD CUSTOMS UNION.
The Russian government announced yesterday that it had approved a draft agreement with Belarus on coordinated price policy. A key provision of the agreement allows Russian oil companies to sell crude oil and oil products to Belarus firms at domestic Russian market prices. Belarus would... MORE
FEDERATION COUNCIL APPROVES DEPLOYMENT OF BOSNIA FORCE.
The Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament, today approved the deployment of the Russian contingent of the NATO-led peacekeeping operation in Bosnia. (2) Speaking to Ukrainian cadets in Kiev yesterday, Russian defense minister Pavel Grachev suggested the Russian force in Bosnia would try to... MORE
KIEV WELCOMES BETTER RELATIONS WITH MOSCOW.
Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma yesterday, following Foreign Minister spokesman Yuri Serheev's lead January 3, described recent Ukrainian-Russian relations as "markedly improving." Serheev traced the development to "the Russian side beginning to understand the irreversibility of Ukraine's independence." Kuchma, speaking after his meeting with U.S. defense... MORE
RUSSIAN ENVOY, RUSSIAN AID ARRIVE IN IRAQ.
Boris Yeltsin's special envoy to the Middle East, Viktor Posuvalyuk, met with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad January 3 to discuss Russian-Iraqi relations and the situation in the Persian Gulf, said a Russian foreign ministry official. The official, Sergei Kirpichenko, said Iraq had taken positive steps... MORE
KYRGYZ PRESIDENT TIGHTENING GRIP.
The reelected president of Kyrgyzstan, Askar Akayev, yesterday called a referendum on amending the constitution to expand the presidency's powers at the expense of parliament. In a televised address to the country, Akayev complained that the constitution "reduces the president to the role of a... MORE