President Boris Yeltsin has awarded Federal Security Service (FSB) chief Mikhail Barsukov and Internal Affairs (MVD) minister Anatoly Kulikov the rank of four-star General, promoting them from Col. General to Army General. (14) The chiefs of Russia's biggest security service and largest law-enforcement agency thus... MORE

At its second national conference, held in Moscow over the weekend, the nationalist Congress of the Russian Communities (KRO) called for a referendum on constitutional amendments limiting the powers of the executive branch. Addressing the conference, KRO chairman Yuri Skokov stressed that the main goal... MORE

At KRO's congress and in other recent statements, KRO's deputy chairman, Lt. General (ret.) Aleksandr Lebed said that democracy in Russia can be reached by "tough authoritarian methods", such as "strict vertical control by the government, especially over the privatization process." Conceding that privatization was... MORE

The Central Election Commission (TsIK) has cast lots to distribute television air time for the campaign messages of the 42 parties running for the Duma. Under electoral legislation, each party is entitled to one hour of free TV time, including 30 minutes on prime time,... MORE

A spokesman for the Sukhoi design bureau said yesterday that the planned S-21 executive jet would carry six or 10 passengers at speeds of up to twice the speed of sound--2,125 kph (1,320 mph). It would have a range of 78,400 km (4,600 miles). The... MORE

Western companies planning Baltic business operations tend to start first with Estonia and then move on to Latvia, proceeding to Lithuania only after these two, according to the Business Eastern Europe bulletin. Estonia and Latvia have the advantage of concentrated purchasing power in their capitals,... MORE

According to an Interior Ministry report, the juvenile delinquency rate has been three times as high as the rate of adult crime during the past six years. The reports puts the number of juvenile delinquents in Russia as 700,000, with an estimated 33 percent of... MORE

The Duma begins debating the redrafted 1996 budget tomorrow. The new draft, amended by a commission of representatives from both houses of parliament and the government, envisages a deficit of 88.5 billion rubles ($19.6 million) or 3.85 percent of the gross domestic product. The commission... MORE

Lt. General Sergei Karasev, in charge of armaments for Russia's Federal Border Service told journalists yesterday that "new, economical forms of guarding state borders" are under review because the state budget meets just 25-30 percent of the service's actual needs. Karasev singled out FBS's naval... MORE

After a meeting in Moscow yesterday, officials of the Russian and Ukrainian Ministries of Internal Affairs (MVD) announced that they had achieved "a qualitatively new level" in efforts to coordinate their activities against organized criminal groups, narcotics and weapons offenses, and economic crime. The negotiations... MORE