Ivan Rybkin, speaker of the outgoing Duma, said yesterady that Russia's Constitutional Court may be asked to rule on the legality of last weekend's parliamentary elections if the votes cast in support of the four parties that won representation on party lists amount to less... MORE

Vladimir Shumeiko, speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament and long-time ally of President Boris Yeltsin, presided December 21 over the constituent conference of a new political movement, "Russian Reforms -- A New Course." Shumeiko said the movement will back Yeltsin in the... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin has signed a decree creating the Polar Geological-Extracting Company on the basis of five land-survey enterprises in Western Siberia. The company will search for oil and gas on the territories of the Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenets) and Yamalo-Nenets autonomous districts. It will be formed... MORE

The Russian brigade which will take part in Operation Peacekeeper is ready for deployment in Bosnia, a Defense Ministry spokesman said yesterday. The 1,500-strong brigade, commanded by Colonel Aleksandr Lentsov, is comprised of servicemen from the 98th and 76th airborne divisions. Thirty percent of officers... MORE

According to the Communist party's first deputy chairman, Valentin Kuptsov, the KPRF will soon consult with other parties on electing the chairman, deputy chairmen, and committee chairmen of the new Duma. The announcement followed a KPRF presidium meeting which earmarked the parliamentary posts sought by... MORE

The Communist Party expects to form a faction numbering about a third of the members of the new Duma, and party officials say they will demand that several key parliamentary posts should go to their members, including that of Speaker. The party also wants to... MORE

The Central Electoral Commission announced December 21 that vote-counting in the single-mandate constituencies was complete. The Communist party won 58 of the 225 seats; its allies the Agrarians and "Power to the People," 20 and 9, respectively. Figures for other parties were as follows: Yabloko... MORE

The Georgian authorities have arrested oil executive Tamaz Mirianashvili on charges of complicity with former State Security chief Igor Giorgadze, the anti-Shevardnadze conspirator currently being sheltered in Russia. Mirianashvili, a vice president of Georgia's state oil company Gruzneft, is said to be one of several... MORE

The military board of Azerbaijan's Supreme Court announced yesterday the sentencing of eight supporters of the country's former, and ephemeral, prime minister Suret Huseinov. The eight were sentenced to terms of forced labor ranging from 10 to 14 years for their role in the abortive... MORE

Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma's senior aide Oleksandr Razumkov, macroeconomics adviser Anatol Halchynsky, and policy adviser Dmytro Vydrin resigned this week complaining about "intrigues" and an "unhealthy moral environment in the president's entourage." In a letter published yesterday in Kiev newspapers, the three departing aides blamed... MORE