Thirty-two journalists were killed in countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States this past year, said a statement by the Glasnost Defense Fund. Fifteen were killed in Russia -- ten in Chechnya alone. The number of journalist fatalities this year was nearly twice as high... MORE

The newspaper Moskovsky komsomolets on December 29 quoted allegations by the respected election analyst Aleksandr Sobyanin that the results of December's parliamentary elections were rigged by as much as 20 percent in favor of the Communist party and Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic party. Sobyanin, who... MORE

Hopes that Russia might win the release of seven crew members and their Ilyushin-76 aircraft, held since August 3 by members of the Taliban opposition, were dashed over the weekend. The rebels postponed the release pending Moscow's turnover of additional documents concerning Afghanis whom the... MORE

Interviewed in the latest issue of Argumenty i fakty, Kazakhstan's president Nursultan Nazarbayev expresses strong dissatisfaction with key aspects of Russia's policy toward Kazakhstan. Nazerbayev objects to: restrictions on Kazakhstan's access to Russia's pipeline system to export its oil to international markets; Russian special services... MORE

Uzbek president Islam Karimov has issued a decree declaring 1996 a year for celebrating the memory of Tamerlane. The decree acknowledges "numerous public proposals" to that effect as well as UNESCO's decision to organize commemorative events around Tamerlane's 660th birth anniversary in 1996. According to... MORE

Addressing the Georgian parliament yesterday, its chairman Zurab Zhvania said that the presence of Russia's "peacekeeping" troops in Abkhazia no longer made sense. Zhvania indicated that Georgia would not consent to the renewal of those troops' mandate when it expires December 31, unless they are... MORE

At a negotiating session December 27 in Moscow, delegations of Ukraine's and Russia's Defense Ministries again failed to finalize a draft intergovernmental agreement on the sale of Ukrainian strategic bombers and air-launched cruise missiles to Russia. At issue are 25 Tupolev-95 MS and 19 Tupolev-160... MORE

Belarus president Aleksandr Lukashenko is apparently attempting to force the resignation of Valery Tsikhinya, chairman of the defiant Constitutional Court that has repeatedly ruled presidential decrees unconstitutional. In the latest instance, on December 26 the Constitutional Court struck down Lukashenko's controversial decree abolishing a range... MORE

In a public address December 27, Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma called for the introduction of market reforms in agriculture and industries related to it, adding that the agro-industrial complex "must take the lead in pulling the economy out of the crisis." Kuchma outlined a draft... MORE

Elected to the Duma from a single-mandate constituency (Murmansk), foreign minister Andrei Kozyrev is required by law to choose between his ministerial post and parliamentary seat; officials are no longer allowed to cumulate executive and legislative positions. His election to the Duma could yet provide... MORE