The Russian government yesterday issued an order banning power plants from cutting off energy supplies to military bases and other areas considered important for national security. The move comes amid concerns that a series of recent blackouts at nuclear-powered facilities could have led to catastrophes.... MORE

Russia may import five million tons of wheat and flour this season following the worst harvest since the early 1960s, an independent Soviet grain analyst said yesterday. Russia would import some 3.5 million tons of wheat from outside the former Soviet Union, or nearly as... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin, hospitalized with heart problems, and Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev agreed today that the embattled minister would get a new first deputy, Interfax news agency said. The prospective appointment indicated that Kozyrev would keep his job, at least for now. Yeltsin said... MORE

The number of unemployed in Russia has reached 5.8 million, which constitutes 7.9 percent of the country's labor force of 73 million people. According to the State Committee for Statistics, this figure will shortly increase to six million. A national unemployment rate of 10 percent... MORE

Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) leader Gennady Zyuganov said on TV yesterday that his party seeks power in "a democratic way." Denying that the KPRF is at odds with other communist parties and groups, Zyuganov said that "all communist parties are detachments in... MORE

. Azerbaijani president Heydar Aliyev escaped another assassination attempt after the country's Internal Affairs Ministry arrested the conspirators. They were planning to shoot down Aliyev's plane with a Strela portable anti-aircraft missile when the president was returning from a foreign trip. This is the second... MORE

Defense ministers or their deputies from all CIS member countries except Moldova held a regular meeting chaired by Russia's Pavel Grachev in Moscow on November 2. Grachev admitted that there was not enough support for creating a Committee of Chiefs of Staff of the CIS... MORE

The presidents of the US UNOCAL and Saudi Arabia's Delta companies are cited as saying that they are forming a consortium to build two transcontinental pipelines, with Turkmenistan being a key to both projects. The first envisages construction of a pipeline to export Turkmenistan's gas... MORE

Tajikistan's government yesterday observed Constitution Day, its state holiday. The occasion was overshadowed by the arrest in the last few days of more than 30 businessmen by the Internal Affairs Ministry, on "suspicion" of finance law violations. Also in the last few days, the authorities... MORE

A US delegation led by the State Department's coordinator for relations with CIS countries, Assistant Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, and CIS aid coordinator Richard Morningstar, paid a two-day visit to Moldova for talks with President Mircea Snegur and other top officials. The delegation assured... MORE