Georgian head of state Eduard Shevardnadze said yesterday that the next Georgian parliament probably won't ratify the treaty granting Russia basing rights in Georgia unless Georgia regains jurisdiction over Abkhazia. In addition, Shevardnadze predicted that the parliament would refuse to renew the mandate of Russian... MORE

The State Secretaries for Defense of the three Baltic states conferred yesterday in Lithuania. On the agenda were: NATO's enlargement, Baltic military cooperation with NATO countries within and beyond Partnership for Peace, the development of the joint Baltic battalion (BaltBat), the formation of a joint... MORE

Three weeks ago Oleksandr Moroz, speaker of the Ukrainian Supreme Council, sent to President an inquiry about Ukraine's intention to join the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly as a full member. So far Kuchma hasn't responded, but has let it be known through his aides that he... MORE

In Luxemburg yesterday, the foreign ministers of EU countries began the processing of Latvia's application for EU membership. Latvian foreign minister Valdis Birkavs and his Estonian and Lithuanian colleagues attended the Luxemburg meeting. (8) Latvia is the first of the Baltic states, and first ex-Soviet... MORE

Ground Forces Commander-in-Chief General Vladimir Semyonov yesterday welcomed the provisional agreement reached in Washington by Defense Minister Pavel Grachev and US Defense Secretary William Perry on changing the map for flank limitations established for) Russia by the CFE Treaty. Earlier, Grachev had announced that during... MORE

Returning to Grozny from Moscow, Russian-installed Chechen prime minister Doku Zavgayev declared his readiness to meet with Dzhokhar Dudayev in order to accelerate the pace of negotiations toward a political settlement. The statement is one of the most explicit signals yet of Moscow's readiness to... MORE

Yabloko will call on international observers to boycott the December elections if its disqualification remains in force. That announcement was made on Tuesday by Yabloko deputy chairman Vladimir Lukin, who stressed that he was speaking in his capacity as chairman of the State Duma Committee... MORE

Russia's Supreme Court on Monday ruled in favor of the "Democratic Russia"/Free Trade Union bloc in its case against the Central Electoral Commission. (4) The group, which led by famous former dissidents Gleb Yakunin, Galina Starovoitova, and Lev Ponomarev, had brought suit against the election... MORE

A formal partnership agreement between Russia and the European Union should not get "the green light," given the Electoral Commission's move to bar "Yabloko" and "Derzhava" from the parliamentary elections, according to the Europarliament's Commission on Foreign Affairs. The Commission's surprisingly firm stand, announced on... MORE

Ukraine's parliament voted on Tuesday to join the Council of Europe, but many deputies expressed reservations about an early repeal of the death penalty, a long-term requirement for membership. Specialists Recommend A Month In Hospital.