The founding congress of President Mircea Snegur's new Party ofRebirth and Conciliation sharply attacked the parliamentary majorityand the government as "extremist" and "anti-democratic,"documents from the session released to Moldpres August 28 show.Until recently, both groups were Snegur's close allies. Moreover,the documents show that Snegur's party... MORE

Vladimir Smetanin, the Ukrainian ambassador to Uzbekistan,told Kommersant-Daily August 24 that Moscow had expectedit could control Ukraine by controlling Central Asian gas destinedfor Kyiv that passed through Russia, but that now, Russian "pressureon our people is diminishing." Ukraine Offers to Mediate Transdniester Conflict.

During a meeting in Chisinau August 28, Ukrainian premier Evhen Marchukand Moldovan premier Andrei Sangheli agreed that Kyiv would serveas a mediator between the Moldovan and Transdniesterian governments.Ukrainian presidential foreign policy advisor Volodymyr Furkalowill serve as Kyiv's representative to the talks, the first roundof which... MORE

If the West supplies financial assistance as German foreign minister Klaus Kinkelpromised recently, President Aleksandr Lukashenko said August28, Belarus will resume scrapping armaments to meet CFE limits,according to a Belarusian embassy press release. In February1995, Belarus had stopped the destruction of conventional armamentsmandated by the... MORE

. State prosecutor Gintaras Jasaitis told BNS August 27 that his office had evidence that the so-calledVilnius Brigade, a group with links to organized crime and executedcrime boss Boris Dekanidze, had planned to launch a terror campaignto bring down the Lithuanian government. Jasaitis said that... MORE

Despiteearlier claims that the Latvian banking crisis could not happenin Lithuania, Lithuanian officials are now very worried aboutsome shady practices in Lithuanian banks including illegal cashtransactions among some of the country's largest banks, BNS reportedAugust 25. Lithuanian premier Adolfas Slezevicius described one recent operation as... MORE

The authorities lack the resources to follow up on the 21,000 people now registeredas missing by their families or workplaces, Trud reportedAugust 23. "Why are a lot of people missing in a time ofpeace?" the article asked rhetorically and answered: "Thefact is that actually we... MORE

The Russiannationalist journal Kontinent (no. 30) suggests that allof Russia's neighbors--including Mongolia--have designs on Russianterritory, that these designs are backed by the US which wantsto do away with the Russian nation, and that any Russian whobelieves that because of its size, Russia can make concessions,is... MORE

Just as in Soviet times, the private plots of collective farmers producefar more than their share of the country's meat and milk products.Russian radio reported August 28 that the private plots gavethe country almost 45 percent of its meat and more than 40 percentof its... MORE

A survey of people in Tatarstan who regularly travel abroad topurchase goods-a group of people generically called "shuttles"-foundthat half of them have to pay off local officials and more than40 percent are controlled by criminal gangs, Russian media reportedAugust 27. Most of those engaged in... MORE