Russia plans to considerably expand its military-technical cooperation with South American nations, particularly Brazil, the press service of the state-owned Rosvooruzhenie company told Interfax yesterday. Last year Brazil bought over $3 million worth of portable Needle anti-aircraft complexes. A delegation from Brazil is currently working... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin has signed into law a bill limiting the scope of referendums and restricting their initiation. The new law places a number of questions within the reach of referendums , including decisions the status of constituents of the Russian Federation; termination or extension... MORE

Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev left Moscow yesterday for Rovaniemi, Finland, where he will chair a meeting of the Barents Sea Regional Council. The Council was founded in 1993 to formalize cooperation between Moscow and the three Nordic countries. In Rovaniemi, the foreign ministers of member... MORE

The Bosnian Serbs were expected to respond by 7 p.m. on Wednesday to the Moslem-led government's offer of a ceasefire starting on Thursday -- the latest truce deadline after two previous attempts collapsed this week. Moscow accused the Bosnian government of "blackmailing the world community"... MORE

Accusing Russia of gross violations of the truce, rebels in Chechnya said Wednesday they were suspending fulfillment of a July military pact and breaking off peace talks with Russian representatives in the breakaway province. A statement by Chechen president Dudayev said the suspension of the... MORE

Reuter reported on Wednesday that the coalition government of the Baltic state of Estonia was on the verge of total collapse when the Coalition Party asked its partner the Rural Union to quit the government with it. "We have just decided we will ask the... MORE

Commenting on last week´s vote by Russia´s Federation Council to hold a referendum in Russia on accelerating integration with Belarus, president Aleksandr Lukashenka remarked to journalists that economic issues would have to be solved before political ones are tackled. "Otherwise, this discussion can turn into... MORE

President Aleksandr Lukashenka has told journalists that Belarus will resume October 15 the destruction of tanks and other armored vehicles in excess of the ceilings set by the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE). Lukashenka said that Germany and the U.S. have promised Belarus... MORE

Acting on a request from Supreme Soviet chairman Mechislau Hrib and other deputies, the Belarus Constitutional Court has ruled that president Aleksandr Lukashenko's changes to the country´s budget by decree are unconstitutional. The presidential decree had unilaterally revised the budget´s revenues and expenditures and imposed... MORE

Russia´s Duma passed October 6 a bill suspending any unilateral reduction in the strength of the Black Sea Fleet, any changes to the fleet´s organizational structure, any withdrawal of naval crews and units, and any dismantling of coastal infrastructures or their transfer to Ukraine, until... MORE