Reuters reports that parliament leaders in Ukraine's heavily pro-Russian Crimean peninsula on Monday ordered that the American soap opera "Santa Barbara" be broadcast with Russian, rather than Ukrainian dubbing. Some 500 Crimean Communists demonstrated last week in Simferopol, the region's main city, denouncing the replacement... MORE

At the invitation of Russia's Agrarian party, supported by other Duma factions, Transdniester leader Igor Smirnov addressed the Duma's September 9 special session, which also discussed the situation in Yugoslavia. Smirnov told the Duma that Transdniester considers itself a part of Russia and that the... MORE

According to his press secretary, Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin will meet with Georgian leader Eduard Shevardnadze and other officials during the one-day official visit. The two leaders are likely to discuss concrete measures for resolving conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia in exchange for... MORE

Russia's new ambassador to Moldova, Aleksandr Papkin, has reiterated Moscow's position that the 1994 bilateral treaty on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Moldova lacks validity until ratified by the Duma, and that the three-year withdrawal schedule begins only from the treaty's ratification. With regard... MORE

Feliks Lvov, a member of the board of directors of "Alfa Bank," was found dead on a highway near Moscow with four bullet wounds in his chest and head. According to the Moscow office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Lvov was the victim of... MORE

The Russian prosecutor's office extended the prison term of controversial entrepreneur Dmitri Yakubovsky, who was accused last January of attempting to steal an ancient manuscript worth over 1 million dollars. Yakubovsky, who is also known as "General Dima," made his name in 1993, when he... MORE

One of the founders of the Russian Movement of Democratic Reforms, Gavriil Popov, said that he believes that his movement's present congress will be its last one, and that the movement intends to create a social-democratic bloc in union with the parties of Vasily Lipitsky... MORE

The Central Election Commission rejected the registration of the electoral list of the "Rebirth" bloc, created by Valery Skurlatov, a veteran of the nationalist movement. Top positions in the Skurlatov bloc are occupied by Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko, the president of the self-proclaimed Transdniester republic... MORE

The Central Election Commission issued an instruction to radio and television stations to allot air time, free of charge, to all parties and organizations with properly registered election lists. Similarly, the state-run and subsidized print and mass media must publish election campaign advertisements. The document... MORE

The Ecological Party "Kedr" has published its list of candidates, who have made their names in areas far removed from ecology. Former Russian prime minister and Ambassador to the European Union Ivan Silayev occupies the first position, followed by prominent TV personality Leonid Yakubovich, and... MORE