Several organizations that missed the application deadline and/or felt mistreated by the Central Electoral Commission are considering legal action. The Democratic Russia-Free Trade Unions bloc announced on Tuesday that "it was studying the possibility" of lodging a complaint with the Supreme Court. (10) Three of... MORE

The problems of Aleksandr Rutskoi's "Derzhava" bloc might not end with the disclosure of his nominees' criminal pasts. Ryabov's commission said on Tuesday it had reason to believe that out of 270 candidates on "Derzhava's" list, 86 had been "arbitrarily" put there without their consent.... MORE

For the first time in 18 months, the Russian Federation has a Prosecutor General. He is 43-year-old lawyer Yuri Skuratov, who was approved on October 24 by a unanimous vote of the Federation Council. Skuratov is widely reported to have impressed the Council with his... MORE

. Less than 48 hours after it ceased accepting nominations, the Central Electoral Commission released the names of 87 would-be candidates to the Duma who have done time in prison or are currently under investigation. With information from Russia's MVD in hand, commission chairman Nikolai... MORE

Russian scientists joined American engineers Tuesday for the test firing of a Soviet rocket engine in California. The 40-second test at Aerojet, said to be the first on American soil, advanced the company's hopes of selling the Soviet-made engines for use in US rockets. Perry,... MORE

The US and Russian defense ministers will meet at the Pentagon on Thursday in a follow-up to the Clinton-Yeltsin summit discussions of the proposed participation of Russian troops in Bosnia peacekeeping, the Defense Department said yesterday. Ironically, after the same two ministers met on October... MORE

Thousands of mostly elderly demonstrators besieged the Lithuanian parliament on Tuesday, protesting against the government's economic austerity program. The protest, which drew more than 7,000 people, was said to be the largest political demonstration since the Baltic state regained independence in 1991 after 50 years... MORE

Russia has made sufficient progress in democracy and human rights to be accepted into the Council of Europe early next year, European parliamentarians said on Tuesday. The CE had suspended Russia's membership application after Moscow sent thousands of troops into Chechnya last December. Aerojet Tests... MORE

Georgian head of state Eduard Shevardnadze told national radio yesterday that, more than most countries, Georgia had experienced the ineffectiveness of the UN and its Security Council in dealing with regional and local conflicts. Shevardnadze said that efforts to reform the UN should focus on... MORE

. Addressing the UN General Assembly yesterday, Uzbek president Islam Karimov appealed for closer international attention to Central Asia, whose location and enormous mineral resources "are turning the region into an arena of competition between the geopolitical and economic interests of various countries." Karimov called... MORE