US Secretary of State Warren Christopher met with Russian foreign minister Andrei Kozyrev September 26 hours after the latter's speech at the UN. Christopher briefed his Russian counterpart on NATO expansion plans, expressed confidence that "a proper role" could be found for Russia in implementing... MORE

This morning's Washington Times reports that, thanks to assistance from Russia and China, Iran is within five years of constructing its own uranium-fueled atomic bomb. The report is a reprint from the London Sunday Telegraph, which claims access to "exclusive information" on the project. It... MORE

Kazakhstan and Russia have exchanged instruments of ratification of the agreement to lease Kazakhstan's Baikonur space launching site to Russia. The lease runs for 20 years at an annual rent of $115 million, and will be extended automatically unless expressly denounced by one of the... MORE

On September 23 and 24 The Confederation of the Peoples of the Caucasus held a leadership conference in the Kabardino-Balkar republic's capital Nalchik to denounce "Russian support for Georgia's aggressive policy." Claiming that Georgia was preparing a military operation to reincorporate Abkhazia, the CPC called... MORE

According to Russian defense minister Pavel Grachev, Russia and Georgia will shortly sign an agreement on guarding the section of the railroad between the two countries which passes through Abkhazia. The latter's leader Vladislav Ardzinba "will have to agree," Grachev said. (13) That railroad is... MORE

Ukrainian prime minister Yevhen Marchuk said on September 25 that he would tell US officials on his visit this week that his country remains committed to market reforms despite a recently announced "correction" which boosts state control of the economy. But in an interview with... MORE

On September 25 Georgia officially introduced the lari as its national currency and sole legal tender. Within one week, residents are entitled to trading in an unlimited amount of Georgian coupons (the transitional currency) for the lari at the rate of 1 million coupons to... MORE

Belarus foreign minister Ulazdimir Syanko told the UN General Assembly session September 25 that his country's birth rate had fallen 50 percent, genetic diseases are on the rise, and the incidence of thyroid cancer among children has increased many-fold as a result of the April... MORE

Russian public television (ORT) has canceled the highly-rated political talk show Versii (Versions), and squeezed out its host Sergei Dorenko from the company. According to ORT's director Sergei Blagovolin, this decision was dictated, not by political but by purely professional considerations, and also by a... MORE

. ORT also axed Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's biweekly "Meetings with Solzhenitsyn" program. The company's first deputy director Kirill Ignatiev cited the show's low ratings and Solzhenitsyn's "image devaluation in the viewers' perception" due to the unprofessional way in which the show's producers used the famous writer.... MORE