US nationalsecurity adviser Anthony Lake and Russia's foreign minister AndreiKozyrev conferred August 14 in Sochi on the conflicts in formerYugoslavia. They appeared to agree on the need for a Contact Groupmeeting to discuss political solutions to the conflict, but disagreedabout the economic sanctions currently in... MORE

The Russian press reportedon August 12 that the Duma voted by 226 to 1 for Russia's unilateralwithdrawal from the international sanctions against rump Yugoslavia.By 235 to 0, the chamber voted to allow Russian firms to tradewith firms in rump Yugoslavia in order to supply goods... MORE

The"Congress of People's Unity" received official registrationAugust 10, Interfax reported from Dushanbe. The movement includesseveral political, social, ethnic, and economic organizations,including the Tajik Communist Party and representative bodiesof the Russian and other ethnic communities. It pledges to promoteeconomic recovery, ethnic equality, and integration with the... MORE

At a meeting in Ashgabat August10, the Interstate Council on the Aral Sea decided to set up apermanent Secretariat to be headquartered in that city. The fiveCentral Asian member states of the council and representativesof international organizations discussed joint funding of irrigationfacilities,

Vilniuscity officials have approved the building of a six-foot statueof the late American rock star Frank Zappa, BNS reported August8. The statue will be located in a park in the center of the city,an honor which was previously strictly reserved for Communists.The statue will be... MORE

Kazakhstan's AtomicEnergy Agency on August 10 dismissed the previous day's LibyanJANA story of a planned Libyan purchase of enriched uranium fromKazakhstan. Agency head Ergali Bayadilov told Reuters in Almatythat Kazakhstan has not been approached by Libya and would notbe prepared to sell nuclear fuel to... MORE

The US Embassy inBaku has registered concern with the Azerbaijani authorities'recent decisions to deny legal registration to opposition parties.At a news conference, US diplomats expressed the hope that theauthorities would take another look at the cases, UPI reportedAugust 10. The Justice Ministry for its part... MORE

Based on recentinformation from Minsk, the August 8 Komsomolskaya Pravdaand the August 10-16 Obshchaya gazeta (the latter underthe byline of prestigious analyst Dmitrii Furman) assert thatBelarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko hopes to create a politicalunion between Belarus and Russia and to become president of theunified state.... MORE

Russiansources in the Black Sea Fleet's financial service argue in theAugust 9 Komsomolskaya pravda that questions of funding,rather than jurisdiction, may ultimately prove decisive for theBlack Sea Fleet's fate. Despite Russian-Ukrainian agreements providingfor joint financing of the Fleet, Russia alone allocates the funds.Meanwhile Ukraine levies... MORE

Naval Command sources in Moscow told Interfax August 9 thatthe Black Sea Fleet has been ordered to disband the flight controlcenter at Gvardeiskoe naval airport near Simferopol, and to transferDonuzlav naval airport to Ukraine's navy. Both measures are tobe completed by October, according to the... MORE