Observers from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and other international organizations said Russia's parliamentary elections were free and fair. (8) They said they had observed a number of infractions but that these were not serious enough to invalidate the elections. The worst breach of the election... MORE

Playing his cards close to his chest, Communist party Gennady Zyuganov has so far refrained from stating in other than very general terms what policies his group will pursue in the new Duma. Zyuganov told journalists his priority would to tackle the growth of consumer... MORE

Areas to the south of Moscow, in particular the Black Earth zone, favored the Communist party in yesterday's vote for a new Russian State Duma. The same areas also favored the Communist party in the December 1993 parliamentary elections. Other "red belts" were discerned in... MORE

Central Election Commission officials announced that the Communist party was "the clear leader" among affiliated candidates in voting for the 225 single-constituency seats in the new Duma. Although numerous incumbent Duma deputies have been reelected, the Commission said fewer independent (i.e., non-party affiliated) candidates had... MORE

Vote-counting is continuing and final results are not yet in, since ballot-counting in the Duma's 225 single-mandate constituencies is proceeding more slowly than tallying the 225 seats assigned by party list. But officials at the Central Election Commission said they did not expect any major... MORE

The International Monetary Fund has increased the amount of loans available to Kyrgyzstan under the three-year economic restructuring program from $105 million to $131 million. The IMF pronounced itself satisfied with the country's efforts in reducing inflation, stabilizing the som (its national currency), increasing its... MORE

In a pique because Belarusian voters last week elected a parliament, depriving him of an argument for imposing personal rule, President Aleksandr Lukashenko looks bent on preventing the parliament's functioning. The parliament's outgoing chairman Myacheslau Hryb told a news conference that Lukashenko had halted funding... MORE

The presidents of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Islam Karimov, and Askar Akayev, held December 15 a session of the Interstate Council of their three countries in Djambul (southern Kazakhstan). The presidents appealed to the UN secretary-general Boutros Ghali for UN approval of the... MORE

. Five military and civilian aircraft were damaged in an attack that used grenades and machine guns on the airport in North Ossetia's capital Vladikavkaz during the night of December 16-17. According to security officials, the unidentified attackers came from Ingushetia. (14) Baltics to Receive... MORE

European Union leaders meeting in Madrid December 15 and 16 decided to begin negotiations on the EU's enlargement after mid-1997 with Central European and Baltic countries. The admission of individual countries is to be decided on a case by case basis depending on each country's... MORE