On Monday, Tass quoted Prime Minister Chernomyrdin as saying Russia's two contracts to build three reactors at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant "had absolutely nothing to do with the creation of nuclear arms...Iran is our neighbor, and we know very well what is happening there,"... MORE

Reuter quotes a senior Russian official as saying on Tuesday the Russia will keep tough economic reforms on track. Economy Minister Victor Yasin said the Russian economy could start to grow next year, although the initial rise in gross domestic product was unlikely to top... MORE

The sluggish "peace process" in Chechnya has been scrambled by the bomb attack last Friday which hospitalized the commander of Russian forces in that breakaway republic. Despite the opposition of Chechen negotiators, Russia has suspended implementation of the military accord which was signed on July... MORE

A new decree issued by Russian President Boris Yeltsin will increase state control over international weapons trade and boost profits from arms sales abroad, a defense industry official said Tuesday. Defense industry adviser Yegeny Bozhenov said the edict will give the government a firmer grip... MORE

On Monday an international consortium of oil companies announced that oil from Azerbaijan's rich deposits under the Caspian Sea will be transported through two pipelines. The decision is a compromise between the positions of Russia and Turkey, each of which wanted exclusive shipping rights to... MORE

Russia continues to demand more control than NATO will allow over the putative force intended to enforce a cease fire in Bosnia. On Tuesday a key precondition to the cease fire was reportedly met when gas supplies to Sarajevo were reinstated. (See "In Perspective" item... MORE

Russia's Health Ministry has announced that it will soon put on the market an "autonomous electronic stimulator" which, it says, strengthens the human immune system and suppresses various diseases. The stimulator is a small microprocessor implanted in a capsule, which is swallowed like an ordinary... MORE

Addressing the U.N. General Assembly, Kyrgyz foreign minister Rosa Otunbayeva came out in favor of the establishment of a Central Asian peacekeeping force, under U.N. aegis, to be made up of Kazakh, Uzbek, and Kyrgyz units, to deal with conflicts in the region. Otunbayeva also... MORE

South Ossetia's self-styled prime minister Vladislav Gabarayev survived a bomb attack against his Tskhinvali home October 4. The would-be republic's authorities trace the attack to disputes involving present and former officials in connection with misappropriation of humanitarian aid. Gabarayev's predecessor in that post, Oleg Teziyev... MORE

Russia's Foreign Ministry can not support Georgia's proposal for a demarche to the U.N. Security Council calling for economic sanctions against Abkhazia as a "self-proclaimed separatist regime." Georgian Foreign Minister Alexander Chikvaidze submitted this proposal in Moscow. The Russian diplomats commented that Russia acts as... MORE