Latest Monitor Articles
Concurrent actions by Moscow and Tehran in the last few days indicate that Azerbaijan may not enjoy the tranquil external environment required for accelerating reforms and taking advantage of prospective oil revenues. Guliev indicated at his inaugural news conference that Russia is pressing Baku for... MORE
REACTIVATION WORK AT ARMENIAN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT.
Personnel from Russia's Atomic Energy Ministry have begun examining the first (oldest) power-generating block of Armenia's nuclear power plant at Medzamor, with a view to reactivating it. The work proceeds under a Russian-Armenian agreement signed earlier this month, and which also provides for the plant's... MORE
UKRAINE NEEDS ADEQUATE WESTERN SUPPORT FOR CHERNOBYL CLOSURE.
Ukraine may reconsider its decision to close down the Chernobyl nuclear power plant if adequate assistance from G-7 countries is not forthcoming, Prime Minister Evhen Marchuk and President Leonid Kuchma have told the press in separate statements. Kuchma said that Ukraine had made the political... MORE
AZERBAIJAN INAUGURATES PARLIAMENT UNDER RUSSIAN PRESSURE.
The newly elected parliament of Azerbaijan, the Milli Majlis, held its organizational meeting November 24 and reelected Rasul Guliev, a loyalist of president Heydar Aliyev and an oil engineer by profession, as parliamentary chairman. Aliyev's Yeni (New) Azerbaijan party reportedly won at least 59 of... MORE
ADAPTING TO EU CRITERIA.
Estonia handed in yesterday in Brussels its official application for full membership of the European Union. Prime Minister Tiit Vahi, who had signed the application at the end of last week, told the press that the country meets certain prerequisites for admission better than some... MORE
MILITARY PLANS SPACE LAUNCHES.
Russia's Military Space Forces plan to launch three communications satellites from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in the third week of December that will complete a new satellite navigation system for airlines, a spokesman said yesterday. The three would complete the creation of a 24-satellite... MORE
YELTSIN PROPOSED AS COSSACK COMMANDER.
The newspaper Moskovsky komsomelets reported November 21 on a proposal to declare President Yeltsin Commander in Chief of Russia's Cossack troops. The proposal, which is being sent to the Duma by members of the upper house of the Russian parliament, is part of an on-going... MORE
CHECHNYA ROUNDUP.
Russian troops have withdrawn from hilly areas of at least two Chechen districts, in accordance with a General Staff plan to abandon highland positions which are virtually impossible to supply in winter. The move was officially announced on November 24, after 11 Russian soldiers had... MORE
ROSSEL WITHDRAWS FROM "RUSSIAN REFORMS – A NEW COURSE."
Addressing a press conference in Yekaterinburg on November 27, the governor of the Sverdlovsk Oblast, Eduard Rossel, announced that he would not after all be joining the new movement, "Russian Reforms-A New Course," whose establishment was announced on November 22 by Federation Council Speaker Vladimir... MORE
AZERBAIJAN NAMES FOREIGN CONSORTIUM TO SUPPORT OIL EXTRACTION, TRANSPORT.
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan yesterday selected a consortium for a large-scale contract to support Caspian oil extraction and transport. The consortium consists of Norway's Stolp Komex Seaways and France's Comex Pro, which are among world leaders in underwater operations. It will reportedly build... MORE