A spokesman for the Russian chief military prosecutor's office said that Western intelligence services are expanding their operations in Russia, acting both openly and covertly, in covert operations by using Russian citizens whom they are recruiting for the purpose. The spokesman recalled that in old... MORE

. According to a study published by the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Sociology, Russian organized crime, entwined with corrupt officialdom, controls over 40 percent of the national economy, including an estimated two thirds of commercial institutions, some 35,000 businesses, nearly 400 banks, up... MORE

One of the leaders of the Congress of Russian Communities, Lt.-General Aleksandr Lebed, said that his bloc is seeking to build a political consensus "of the entire Russian people." Speaking at the inaugural meeting of an organization named the "Russian Orthodox Political Conference," Lebed said... MORE

One of the leaders of the Russian Christian Democratic Union, Vitaly Savitsky, called on the Duma to move, before the upcoming elections, to restrict the wide-ranging immunity currently being enjoyed by Russian parliamentarians. According to Savitsky, sitting in the Duma has become a lucrative goal... MORE

Russia's Constitutional Court is reviewing the registration documents of several major election blocs, including Russia's Democratic Choice-United Democrats, headed by Yegor Gaidar; the Stanislav Govorukhin bloc; and the "Power to the People" bloc of former Soviet prime minister Nikolai Ryzhkov. The official grounds for the... MORE

. At the same briefing Grachev revealed that the Defense Ministry will put up candidates in the upcoming legislative elections and will finance their campaigns. The Ministry will enter, and is budgeting for, 123 military candidates, 23 of whom are generals. The great majority of... MORE

The Russian military command in Chechnya reported that it had lost two soldiers killed and 10 wounded in clashes with Chechen fighters September 25. The military negotiations remained deadlocked following the expiration of the September 20 deadline for the disarmament of Chechen armed formations. But... MORE

At an unusually wide-ranging and detailed briefing in Moscow, Defense Minister Pavel Grachev listed the following priorities of Russia's foreign policy in the period immediately ahead: --Creation of a military-political bloc of the CIS countries around Russia, if the Baltic states join NATO. Grachev added... MORE

The European Parliament approved a proposal on September 22 to grant Ukraine a further balance-of-payments loan of up to 200 million ECU over a ten-year period. One amendment on the guarantee fund to cover the loan was also approved. Joint Peacekeeping Command Proposed.

President Boris Yeltsin will propose a joint, NATO-Russian peacekeeping force for Bosnia under rotating NATO and Russian command, when he speaks at the 50th anniversary of the United Nations in New York in late October, according to a statement by Defense Minister Pavel Grachev. Grachev... MORE