Observers are warning that the Communist Party of Russia, its sympathizers, and hardline groups in general, continue to lead in pre-election polls. Dmitri Olshanskii of the Strategic Analysis and Forecast Center said Wednesday that up to two-thirds of the new Duma could consist of Communists... MORE

Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin declared that he "would like to see Boris Yeltsin continue working in the presidential office for the good of Russia." (2) Chernomyrdin was answering a question about next year's presidential election, at a meeting with faculty and students of Moscow State... MORE

First Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets is leading a massive governmental delegation on a five-day visit to Cuba which began October 10. The agenda of the talks with Fidel Castro's government includes: resumption of assistance toward the completion of the nuclear power plant at Juragua;... MORE

The director of the state oil company of Azerbaijan announced on Friday that the former Soviet republic would form a joint oil and gas venture with Iran for drilling in the Caspian Sea. (See "In Perspective" item below] CIS Summit Postponed

A regular summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has been postponed from November 3 to a later date, a spokesman for Russian President Boris Yeltsin said on Thursday. He said the delay was caused by the Russian leader's busy schedule. Top Russian Defense... MORE

A senior manager at a key Russian defense plant making engines for MiG-29 fighter jets was gunned down in the center of Omsk, Itar-Tass news agency reported from the Siberian city on Thursday. Russia Returning to Cuba.

Seven killed and five wounded is the final toll of the October 11 attack by Tajik resistance on Russian soldiers ín Badakhshan region´s Khorog area. The Afghanistan-based attackers appeared unscathed. The commander of Russian border troops in Tajikistan, Col. General Pavel Tarasenko, told a Dushanbe... MORE

According to Kazakh officials, Kazakhtelekom has signed a preliminary agreement with American Telephone and Telegraph Network Systems to modernize telecommunications in Kazakhstan. The project, priced at $160 million, is expected to be completed by the year 2000 at the latest and envisages the modernization of... MORE

On a four-day official visit to Germany, his first to that country, Moldovan president Mircea Snegur conferred with German president Roman Herzog and Chancellor Helmut Kohl on bilateral and regional issues. Appearing with Snegur at a joint news conference, Kohl said that he would use... MORE

Ukraine´s Defense Ministry has announced that it will have completed by October 31 the destruction of tanks on its territory which exceed the ceilings mandated by the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE). The ministry said that the November deadline will find Ukraine also... MORE