Head of state Eduard Shevardnadze's irreconcilable opponent Jaba Ioseliani announced September 14 his withdrawal from the presidential race, charging that the state authorities were preventing him from campaigning. Two days earlier, Ioseliani's political group Mkhedrioni (Knights), known for its underworld connections, had announced its withdrawal... MORE

On the same day in Kiev, NATO's commander for Central Europe, General Hans Hansen, conferred with Ukraine's deputy defense minister and armed forces chief of staff, General Anatol Lopata, on developing exchanges at senior staff level between NATO and the Ukrainian military. "NATO has a... MORE

.

A special session of the North Atlantic Council approved September 14 Ukraine's individual program of cooperation with NATO under the Partnership for Peace program. Presented by Ukraine's foreign minister Hennadi Udovenko, the individual program includes joint military exercises, personnel training, and participation in peacekeeping operations.... MORE

.

. Russia's imports of foreign goods topped 27 billion dollars in the first 8 months of this year, showing an increase of almost 15 percent over the same period in 1994. Partly responsible for the trend are food imports, mainly of meat and grain, up... MORE

. Israeli prime minister Itzhak Rabin said, after meeting September 14 in Moscow with Viktor Chernomyrdin, that he was unable to persuade the Russian prime minister to cancel its sale of nuclear reactors to Iran. In Rabin's words, Chernomyrdin assured him that the deal would... MORE

Defense minister Pavel Grachev told the media that he and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin had been surprised by the statement of the commander of Russian troops in Chechnya, Anatoly Romanov, that 8,000 Russian troops were being withdrawn from that republic. Grachev said that he gave... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin on September 14 vetoed the Duma's August 12 bills which would have withdrawn Russia from the international economic sanctions against rump Yugoslavia and would impose unilateral Russian sanctions against Croatia. (3) Yeltsin's move is risky because it will undoubtedly infuriate the Duma's... MORE

Russian officials announced September 14 that a special group of officers from Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Federal Security Service, and the Prosecutor General's Office has been set up to investigate the attack, which caused damage but no deaths. Officials on both sides describe... MORE