Police in Georgia arrested the leader of an armed opposition faction Wednesday and charged him with involvement in an August attempt to assassinate Eduard Shevardnadze, the leader of the former Soviet republic. Police arrested Dhzaba Ioseliani, the leader of the Mkhedrioni, or Horsemen, and were... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin is setting up an interdepartmental commission to coordinate the activities of the federal government in bringing Russia's legislation and legal practices into line with Council of Europe standards. The aim is to hasten Russia's entry to the Council. So far, Moldova and... MORE

Russia's upper chamber of parliament, the Federation Council, voted on Wednesday to hold the next presidential election on June 16, 1996. President Boris Yeltsin has not yet announced whether or not he plans to run for reelection. (2) Grachev: Russia Not Ready to Honor CFE... MORE

Russia is not ready to carry out obligations under the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) pact with the West because this would ruin Moscow's defense capability, Defense Minister Pavel Grachev said on Wednesday. (3) Yeltsin Keen For Russia To Join Council Of Europe.

Russia's parliamentary elections, thrown into doubt by a challenge to the electoral law, must go ahead on December 17 as planned, President Boris Yeltsin said on Wednesday. State Duma speaker Ivan Rybkin said that the presidential election should also take place as scheduled next June.... MORE

President Heydar Aliyev and his Yeni (New) Azerbaijan party look set for a landslide victory in Azerbaijan's first post-Soviet general elections, held November 12 (see the November 13 Monitor). According to Central Electoral Commission preliminary estimates the next day, voter turnout was approximately 80 percent,... MORE

Ukraine's Central Electoral Commission has completed the registration of candidates in the December 10 by-elections to parliament. Close to 390 candidates are running for 45 long-vacant seats in the 450-seat national legislature. Nearly two-thirds of the candidates have no party affiliation, but among those who... MORE

Andrei Makine became the hero of the French literary season yesterday, winning the 92-year-old Goncourt prize for his autobiographical novel "Le Testament Francais. " The novel tells of Makine's experience as a boy whose grandmother, Charlotte, was born into a well-to-do family in the fashionable... MORE

As announced on November 12, nine deputies of the "Kurultai" Tatar faction in the Crimean parliament have ended a ten-day hunger strike for medical reasons. The protesters helped win a significant concession when a delegation of Crimea's parliament agreed in principle with their counterparts in... MORE

Moscow Special Purpose Militia Detachment (OMON) commander, General Dmitri Ivanov, says that Russia currently has 117 OMON units, in practically all cities with a population over 300,000. The Moscow OMON is the largest with its 2,000 men. All OMON units report directly to the Internal... MORE