Russian Foreign Ministry chief spokesman Grigorii Karasin told a briefing yesterday that Moscow regards as "groundless the claims by this or that Caspian country to unilateral use of vast areas of that closed body of water. The Caspian's legal status must be the subject of... MORE

Another round of Georgian-Abkhaz negotiations, in progress in Moscow under Russian and UN mediation since the beginning of the month, broke down yesterday. Two time outs of several days each failed to advance the talks. Abandoning the usual reserve, a senior Russian Foreign Ministry official... MORE

Azerbaijan's Central Electoral Commission has announced the results from the 100 single-mandate constituencies in the November 12 elections to the Milli Majlis. Seventy-two deputies were declared elected, among them three known relatives of President Heydar Aliyev. Runoffs will be held in 20 constituencies on November... MORE

Georgia, which according to its own statistics used to produce 90 percent of the tea consumed in the former USSR, faces the danger of losing that considerable source of income. Russia and other CIS countries have substantially reduced, and may end altogether, their imports of... MORE

President Mircea Snegur met with managers of the Russian LukOil company on November 20 to finalize a comprehensive agreement. A presidential communique described LukOil as a "world leader" in the oil business and said that Snegur had approved, and pledged to support, the formation of... MORE

In a German press interview published yesterday, Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko asserted that as long as he is president, there will be no unification of the Belarusian and Russian states. The likelihood, he stressed, was about as real as Belarus joining the Federal Republic of... MORE

Latvia and Estonia feel threatened by Russia's announced intent to maintain large combat-ready forces in the Pskov region opposite the two Baltic states, violating the CFE Treaty in that area as a price for promising to observe it on Russia's redefined northern flank. "Russian official... MORE

Twenty regions of central Russia have suffered from energy shortages for a fifth consecutive day as the Konakovo and Ryazan power plants reduced output due to halved gas supplies. Viktor Kudryavy, senior vice president of the United Energy System of Russia (UESR), said that Gazprom... MORE

The "Ros" society of Sevastopol, a forum for Russian nationalists in the Crimean naval city, has won a favorable ruling in its lawsuit against Ukrainian authorities. "Ros's" activities and its publication had been suspended for inciting interethnic tension and questioning Ukraine's territorial integrity; but the... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin praised the peace accord among Bosnia's warring parties yesterday and urged a prompt suspension of international sanctions against rump Yugoslavia. "A decision on Russia's participation in military aspects of the settlement will be made later, taking into account all of the circumstances,"... MORE