Latvian foreign minister Valdis Birkavs has rejected suggestions regarding Estonian mediation in the dispute between Latvia and Lithuania over their mutual maritime border in an area believed to contain oil deposits. Birkavs told a news conference that Latvia favors bilateral talks or, failing that, international... MORE

The "Chechen Communist Party" held its founding congress in Grozny November 30 and endorsed Boris Yeltsin's appointee Doku Zavgayev for election as "head of the republic." Its leaders say that the party is not a branch of Gennady Zyuganov's Communist Party of the Russian Federation.... MORE

Italy's state-controlled telecommunications holding company STET on December 1 snapped up Russia's biggest privatization deal so far. For a $639 million investment and a promise to invest $764 million more over the next two years, STET won a tender for 25 percent plus one share... MORE

A powerful earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale struck Russia's Kurile Islands north of Japan yesterday, but there were no immediate reports of deaths or damage, the US National Earthquake Center said. (2) International Tribunal on War Crimes in Chechnya.

At a news conference in Moscow, Glasnost Fund chairman Sergei Grigoriants and other veteran democrats have announced that an International Public Tribunal on war crimes in Chechnya will hold hearings this month in Stockholm. Human rights campaigners, legal specialists, and prominent parliamentarians from Russia and... MORE

The controversial army chief of the Baltic state of Estonia, a former US army colonel who has seen service in the Vietnam and Korean wars, was forced to resign yesterday after a row with his own Defense Minister. (4) Presidential Contenders Announce.

The field of Russia's presidential aspirants suddenly crowded up at the weekend as major political figures announced their intention to run for the presidency in 1996. Yabloko leader Grigori Yavlinsky declared that he would officially launch his presidential candidacy following the Duma elections, that his... MORE

At least 11 people were killed and 60 injured today when a powerful car bomb exploded in the center of Grozny, the capital of breakaway Chechnya. The explosion, which came just a week before the first anniversary of Russia's military intervention into the territory, blasted... MORE

The commander of Georgia's Internal Ministry troops, Maj. General Giya Taradze has been dismissed, and his deputy, Colonel Akaki Barbakadze, has been arrested. Taradze is suspected of involvement in the August 29 attempt against the life of president Eduard Shevardnadze. (19) The measure is the... MORE

Kyrgyz deputy foreign minister Tolgat Chinetov yesterday came out against the idea of "creating a military-political bloc to counter NATO." That would be undesirable because "we only recently managed to avoid the confrontation among blocs, and we would not like a return to the past."... MORE