. On October 19, thousands of trade unionists in Kiev, Kharkov and Sevastopol, staged protests to demand state help for the troubled machine-building sector, where collapsing production is causing severe cutbacks in salaries and hours worked per week. Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Kinakh agreed, after... MORE

Archbishop Jaan Kiivit, head of Estonia's Lutheran Church which encompasses virtually the entire Estonian people, has been denied an entry visa to Russia. The Archbishop had been invited by Lutherans in the Pechora district just across the border in Russia to take part in local... MORE

Two important documents appeared in October that draw attention to Ukrainian alarm at the direction of Russian policies toward the "near abroad." One was a position paper drawn up by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for circulation to Ukraine's top officials in response to Boris... MORE

When CPSU General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev launched his program of perestroika, he had to contend with what the press called "Brezhnev's dinosaurs" -- leaders, like Ukrainian first secretary Volodymyr Shcherbitsky, who resisted ceding their places to younger, reform-minded cadres. Now Russian paleontologists digging near Shestakovo... MORE

Admiral Eduard Baltin, commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, has joined the "For the Fatherland" bloc and figures near the top of its candidates' list for the Duma. Planks in the bloc's program include: checking Western influence which seeks to impose Western-style democracy and free... MORE

Russia's finance minister, Vladimir Panskov, told the Federation Council on October 17 that Russian businesses now owe the federal government more than 50 trillion rubles in back taxes. (6) He said that a key aspect of the proposed 1996 budget is "better tax collection" and... MORE

Commenting on the implications of Moscow's ongoing rapprochement with Cuba, the prominent military analyst Pavel Felgengauer, known for his high-level contacts in the Defense Ministry, writes: "If NATO seriously contemplates deploying its nuclear weapons in Poland, our nuclear missiles may reappear in Cuba." (3) This... MORE

The State Duma on Thursday rejected Viktor Chernomyrdin's proposed budget for 1996. The main point of contention was the government's projected monthly rate of inflation of 1.2 percent, which many deputies feel is ludicrously low. The Duma will now set up a special commission to... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin told a news conference yesterday that he would not announce until early next year whether he will seek reelection when his term is up in 1996. But he indicated that "he would not want his presidency to be associated with a communist... MORE

Yesterday Boris Yeltsin forcefully resurrected Russia's old proposal for a pan-European security system featuring a "European Security Council" with decision-making powers. He offered the idea in the context of combating NATO's eastward expansion, and indicated that he would push his plan with French president Jacques... MORE