President Aleksandr Lukashenko has told Belarusian journalists that he will observe "none" of the Constitutional Court's verdicts which ruled some of his acts unconstitutional. Lukashenko stressed that despite those verdicts, "all presidential decisions and decrees have been, and will be, binding" and that he has... MORE

Latvia and Lithuania exchanged accusations after a Latvian government delegation failed to provide satisfactory explanations to Lithuanian leaders in Vilnius concerning Latvia's deal with Western firms to drill for oil in Baltic waters claimed also by Lithuania. Latvian foreign minister Valdis Birkavs criticized the Lithuanian... MORE

The atomic energy ministry is considering building five more nuclear power plants, according to Vitaly Lebedenko, president of Rosnergoratom. Two would be built in the Far East and one each in northwestern and central Russia and the Urals. Lebedenko said the Russian public appears to... MORE

Russia's Supreme Court has asked the Constitutional Court to review the constitutionality of the electoral law's requirement that party slates need a minimum of 5 percent of the votes cast in order to gain representation to the Duma. The initiative has been endorsed by Federation... MORE

Pennzoil Co. announced on November 10 that it will explore for oil in the Caspian Sea, off the coast of Azerbaijan, under an exploration, development, and production sharing contract signed with that country's state oil company. (See article in "Perspective" section below.) Yeltsin Vetoes Bill... MORE

President Yeltsin has vetoed a bill on the formation of the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council. Conflict over the bill has been going on since the summer and hinges on whether the upper house, or "Senate," should be composed of regional... MORE

Russia's parliamentary election must take place as scheduled on December 17, despite doubts over the electoral law, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin said on November 11. "The elections to the State Duma (lower chamber) must take place on time according to the constitution," he told Itar-Tass... MORE

Yeltsin Will Hold Presidential Election in June.

The Council of Europe said today that its observers at Azerbaijan's elections yesterday had reported irregularities and cases of fraud. "On the basis of our initial findings, the elections were held peacefully, but with a certain number of irregularities and clear cases of fraud," the... MORE

Although still confined to the hospital, Russian president Boris Yeltsin got back to a normal work schedule on Monday. Presidential administration chief Sergei Filatov told Itar-Tass that Yeltsin restated his "firm, categorical position not to postpone the elections to the State Duma, but to do... MORE