Entering thefourth year of its existence, the CIS Economic Court has "absurdlynarrow" powers, the court's secretary general Viktor Gonchartold the August 9 Kommersant Daily. Created in July 1992,the court did not begin meeting until two years later. Only eightmember countries of the CIS recognize it,... MORE

A report of the Internal Affairs Ministry's Main Administrationon Organized Crime, highlighted in the August 10 Segodnya, contradicts the popular view that the main flow of the illegalweapons trade stems from Chechnya. According to the report, mostillegal arms originate from army arsenals in Siberia and... MORE

. President Boris Yeltsin'sstatement about postponing the envisaged elections from Novemberinto next year, and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin's remarkthat "as far the negotiating process is concerned, Dudayevdoes not exist for us," appear to have suddenly heated upthe military and political situation. On August 9, pro-Dudayevforces... MORE

The exchange of prisoners remainedelusive as the Russian commander in chief, Lt. General AnatolyRomanov, demanded from the Chechen side to account for 54 Russianservicemen listed as missing in action. Romanov claimed to haveinformation that the servicemen were in Chechen hands. He rejectedthe proposal of Aslan... MORE

On August 9

In aJapanese press interview, cited by Izvestiya on August10, Yeltsin warned that should the US lift the arms embargo onBosnia, Russia reserves the right to sell arms to the Serbs. Healso defended the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and militarycommander General Ratko Mladic against the... MORE

. Followingup on their recent friendship and cooperation treaty, Abkhaziaand Kabardino-Balkariya have signed an agreement by which theformer grants the latter the right to use the Black Sea portsSukhumi, Pitsunda, and Ochamchira on favorable terms. They nowplan to set up a direct air route between... MORE

. Azerbaijan'sopposition parties threaten to boycott the country's parliamentaryelections unless the government changes key provisions of thedraft electoral law, Interfax reported August 8. The oppositiondemands that the number of parliamentary seats be raised to 181from the envisaged 121, and that half of the seats be... MORE

. Moldova's NationalChristian Party, the only party to have openly advocated unificationwith Romania during the 1994 elections, has renounced that goal,party leader Vladimir Nicu told Basapress August 5. Having garneredonly 6,000 votes, or 0.3 percent of the total on that platform,the party now concedes that... MORE

. Returningfrom the Gagauz autonomous region, Moldovan prime minister AndreiSangheli told the press August 5 that the disarmament of the Gagauzparamilitary force had been completed when the last holdout unitagreed to turn over its arms to the police. The Moldovan and thenewly installed Gagauz autonomous... MORE