Turkmenistan's parliament adopted December 27 a law "On Turkmenistan's Permanent Neutrality." Proposed by President Saparmurat Niyazov, the law stipulates that Turkmenistan will permanently adhere to its neutral status, recently enshrined at the United Nations. The country shall not join any military or political-military blocs or... MORE

In a televised New Year address to the country, Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze reaffirmed Georgia's adherence to peaceful resolution of the conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but warned that Georgia's army was ready to carry out the mission of restoring the country's integrity should... MORE

Ukrainian parliament chairman Oleksandr Moroz and justice minister Serhii Holovaty, in separate statements to the press, sharply criticized the draft Crimean constitution recently adopted by that region's Supreme Soviet. The draft is subject to approval by the Ukrainian parliament. Moroz and Holovaty objected to provisions... MORE

. President Yeltsin intends to set up a presidential commission to bring the constitutions and charters adopted by Russia's republics and regions into line with the Russian constitution, said head of the presidential administration Sergei Filatov. (11) Filatov said the president is alarmed at the... MORE

Corroborating earlier remarks by top Russian officials, Russian president Boris Yeltsin told a crowd of visitors in the Kremlin on December 29 that he intends to visit China sometime this spring. Yeltsin went out of his way to emphasize that the visit represented the Russian... MORE

In a pre-recorded address broadcast to the nation on the evening of December 31, President Boris Yeltsin pledged that living standards in Russia would rise in 1996. According to the Russian president, in 1995 the fall in output had almost ended and there had been... MORE

Former CPSU general secretary and USSR president Mikhail Gorbachev said on television that he supports the proposal of Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), to have the newly elected Duma rescind the founding documents of the Commonwealth of Independent... MORE

In the closing days of 1995, two Moscow-installed officials disclosed information on indiscriminate attacks by the Russian military against Chechen localities. First deputy prime minister of the Grozny government Sanaki Arbeyev said on television that at least 300 "peaceful civilians" had been killed during the... MORE

Moscow will impose quotas on textile imports from the European Union, according to Dmitri Sukhoparov, head of the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations' regulation department. Sukhoparov said last week that restrictions will mainly affect imports of ready-made textile garments similar to those produced domestically. The... MORE

According to Russian Labor Ministry data, approximately 11,000 strikes took place in Russia last year. Schoolteachers and coalminers were the professional groups most actively involved in strikes. The new year opened with a continuing hunger strike at the Zapolyarnaya mine in Vorkuta and warnings from... MORE