Four European countriesare interested in helping to build a new container terminal atKlaipeda, BNS reported August 21. The European Investment Bankwill pay for half of this work. Meanwhile, America's Philip Morriscompany said it would open a cigarette factory in that city, theservice reported August 22.... MORE

President Aleksandr Lukashenko told the visiting German foreignminister Klaus Kinkel August 21 that Belarus could not affordthe cost of destroying the military hardware on its territorythat exceeds CFE limits and refused to promise to do so unlessthe West came up with additional aid. Kinkel pledged... MORE

Four leadersof the independent trade unions behind the ongoing strike at theMinsk subway system have been arrested, Belarusian radio reportedAugust 22. Among those detained is Sergei Antonchik, who as amember of parliament is supposed to be immune from prosecution. Kuchma: No Deal on Black Sea... MORE

Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma said in Sevastopol thathe did not expect any agreement on the future of the Black Seafleet to be signed before the Russian elections in December, Ukrinformreported August 22. While Kyiv wants an agreement, Kuchma indicatedthat it will not agree to shifting... MORE

Depositorsat the failed Baltija Bank demonstrated in front of the Latviangovernment building August 22 to demand the return of their money,BNS reported. And Latvian economists urged the Bank of Latviato devalue the national currency in order to help overcome thebanking crisis. Meanwhile, the news service... MORE

YuriVoyevoda, a Russian Duma member from Kaliningrad, said that theBaltic countries and Russia should conclude an agreement to allowMoscow to open new military bases in all three states, BNS reportedAugust 22. He suggested that Russia's economic stabilization allowedMoscow to press harder in this area. Voyevoda... MORE

During a swing through all three Baltic countries thisweek, German defense minister Volker Ruehe said that Bonn willsupport their integration into the European Union and its securityarrangements, BNS reported August 22. But Ruehe suggested thatthe inclusion of the Baltic states in NATO could only occur... MORE

Complainingthat the negotiations with Lithuania are going nowhere, Yuri Matochkin,the head of the Kaliningrad regional administration, said thathis region may go ahead with oil exploration "unilaterally,"BNS reported August 21. Although he said that he wanted to reachan accord with Vilnius, Matochkin suggested that Kaliningrad andthe... MORE

Readers in the northern Russian port city of Arkhangelsk areable to purchase at local kiosks only four Moscow papers--Izvestiya,Komsomolskaya pravda, Argumenty i fakty, and Rossiiskayagazeta--Russian television reported August 19. As a result,the local press tries to fill in the gaps in national and internationalcoverage, but... MORE

Rossiiskie vesti onAugust 19 said that the average Russian beggars in Moscow is between30 and 40, far younger than most beggars elsewhere in the country.The beggars, the paper said, fight every day for "good"locations in front of Intourist hotels, currency exchanges, andluxury restaurants. Russian Regions... MORE