On Wednesday Belarus shot down a hot air balloon which had crossed into its territory from Poland. Both Americans on board were killed. The craft was taking part in an international competition whose organizers in Switzerland said they had permission to enter Belarusian airspace. The... MORE

Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin exchanged letters in which each reportedly stressed the need for both countries to cooperate in bringing an end to the strife in Bosnia. Meanwhile, Russian foreign minister Kozyrev expressed indignation over what he believes was a secret UN-NATO deal which, behind... MORE

Neither the United States nor Russia attach much political significance to yesterday's grenade attack on the U.S. embassy in Moscow. Both governments characterized the incident, in which no one was hurt, as an isolated terrorist act which should not increase tensions between the two countries.... MORE

. Trade between Uzbekistan and Japan has already passed the $ 100 million mark this year for the first time, and Japanese investment in the country has reached $ 350 million, Uzbek president Islam Karimov noted in discussions with Japanese businessmen in Tashkent. A delegation... MORE

. According to Russian intelligence services, several hundred young "Dagestanis" from Azerbaijan have been crossing into Dagestan in recent days because they are unwilling to serve in Azerbaijan's army and fight on the Karabakh front. Once in Dagestan, which borders on Chechnya, the young men... MORE

In Minsk, the opposition Popular Front's leader Zenon Paznyak and deputy Serhey Naumchik instantly charged in separate statements that Lukashenko had again opened himself to impeachment by contravening the country's constitutionally sanctioned neutrality and jeopardizing its integration into Europe. But in a more weighty reaction,... MORE

. Abkhazia's deputy prime minister, Yuri Voronov, was killed in his house in Sukhumi by unidentified gunmen September 11. Voronov was also the leader of the local section of the Congress of Russian Communities, and was a specialist in Abkhazia's history who had worked under... MORE

. On an official visit to Moldova September 11 and 12, Aleksandr Lukashenko to the obvious embarrassment of his hosts vehemently condemned NATO, deplored the disappearance of the USSR, and urged all former Soviet republics to join together in a political-military alliance which would resist... MORE

. The Hetman Sahaydachny, one of Ukraine's main warships, participates in the Cooperative Partner 95 naval exercises, scheduled for September 11-16 in the Black Sea under NATO's Partnership for Peace program. Also on September 11 and also as part of PfP, a reinforced Ukrainian marine... MORE

At a meeting in Ashgabat, the Ukrainian, Turkmen, and Iranian foreign ministers agreed on a triangular deal for paying Ukraine's current gas bill to Turkmenistan. Ukraine will deliver rails to Iran, which will deduct their value from the payments it stands to receive from Turkmenistan... MORE