Addressing the last cabinet meeting for 1995, Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin called on his government yesterday to work together to ward off the possibility of a Communist victory in next June's presidential elections. (8) Chernomyrdin said the government has much to be proud of:... MORE

Two million people have fallen ill with flu in Ukraine, the nation's Health Ministry announced yesterday. At least one-third of those ill are children, four of whom have died. Ministry spokeswoman Alla Hornets said the epidemic had peaked, however, and that the health situation had... MORE

Lt. General (ret.) Aleksandr Lebed yesterday told the media that he has decided to seek Russia's presidency in the election scheduled for June 1996. The National Council of the Congress of Russian Communities (KRO), of which Lebed is vice-chairman, endorsed his candidacy at a session... MORE

President Yeltsin returned to the Kremlin from a state residence in Barvikha to record a televised New Year's greeting to be broadcast Sunday. The Russian president only recently moved to the state residence from a sanatorium where he has been convalescing after suffering a mild... MORE

An explosion in the capital of Chechnya this morning ripped a crater into Pervomayskaya Street, injured several people, and destroyed some nearby cars, reported a Tass correspondent at the scene. Russian military fuel trucks passing the site were reported to have been fired on at... MORE

The "Russia is Our Home" bloc intends to nominate its own candidates for Duma speaker and chairmen of key committees, faction leader Sergei Belyaev yesterday told journalists. Belyaev predicted that the struggle for control of the Duma chair will be a clash of two forces,... MORE

Communist party leader Gennady Zyuganov was cited by the Czech newspaper Pravo yesterday as saying that the possibility of his becoming Russia's prime minister is under discussion with the CP's allies. (2) Communist Viktor Ilyukhin, chairman of the outgoing Duma's security affairs committee, told the... MORE

Kyrgyzstan's central election commission yesterday proclaimed incumbent President Askar Akayev the winner of the presidential elections held December 24. The commission said that the voter turnout was 86.1 percent and that Akayev won 75.1 percent of the votes cast. His two opponents, former Communist party... MORE

Armenian prime minister Hrant Bagratian and other government leaders inaugurated December 26 a modern, 192-meter long bridge over the river Arax connecting their country to Iran. The bridge, which took more than three years to complete, represents a vital link to the outside world for... MORE

Georgia's former defense minister Tengiz Kitovani and two accomplices went on trial in Tbilisi yesterday on charges of having organized an illegal armed formation. One of the codefendants is former deputy prime minister (under Zviad Gamsakhurdia's rule) Irakly Surguladze. Kitovani and a large group of... MORE