. On a two-day visit to Belarus, Turkishforeign minister Erdal Inonu and his Belarusian counterpart UladzimirSenko signed agreements on mutual protection of investments, onair transport, and initialed a framework cooperation treaty. Inonualso met with President Aleksandr Lukashenko and discussed possibleTurkish loans to Belarus, Interfax reported... MORE

. According to Ukrainiandeputy foreign minister Konstantin Khrishchenko, staff-level talksin Moscow last week on dividing the Black Sea Fleet moved towardagreement on some of the main points regarding the legal statusand terms of stationing in Ukraine of Russia's share of the fleet.Those points include the... MORE

. Sixtyparliamentary deputies from the three Baltic states are attendingfrom August 6 to 15 a defense seminar at the George C. MarshallEuropean Security Training Center in Garmisch, Germany, BNS reportedAugust 8. The seminar at the US institution focuses on internationalsecurity, national defense doctrines and strategies,... MORE

. The Latviangovernment and Nomura Securities have signed an agreement on theplacement of Latvian securities on the international market. TheJapan-based firm is shortly to place Latvian state treasury notesworth 45 million US dollars with a two years' term of maturity. Ukraine Seeks Financing for Chernobyl... MORE

Ukrainianpresident Leonid Kuchma has written to Prime Minister Jean Chretienof Canada, current chairman of the G-7, asking for talks nextmonth on speeding up the promised financing of Ukraine's closureof the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Summarizing the letter,Ukrainian environment minister Yuri Kostenko told Reuters August8 that... MORE

. The Estonian governmenthas approved a defense policy for the country, the Defense Ministrytold BNS August 8. Apparently designed to prepare Estonia foreventual admission into Euroatlantic defense structures, the document requires that Estonia's armed forces "must be able to cooperatewith NATO, the West European Union,... MORE

The owner of a restaurantchain and his daughter were killed by a car bomb in Vladivostokon August 8, Itar-Tass reported. The police said that the murderwas part of an "undeclared war against business" inthe region. Mikhoels Murder Still A State Secret

. The Federal SecurityService (FSB) refuses to release information about the 1948, Stalin-inspired killing of the famous Jewish stage actor SolomonMikhoels. The request for information was made in connection withformer KGB Col.-General Yevgeny Pitovranov's current libel suitagainst journalist Vladimir Molchanov in a Moscow court, Russiantelevision... MORE

. Outraged by the recent seriesof assassinations of bank presidents, some members of the financialcommunity have been considering a possible banking strike todraw attention to the inability or reluctance of law enforcementagencies to protect the community from criminal terror. Accordingto Ostankino TV August 7, however,... MORE

. President Boris Yeltsin has set up a Council for Relations withReligious Organizations as part of the presidential administration,Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported August 6. Under the terms of Yeltsin'sdecree, the council will assist in formulating presidential policytowards religious denominations and will report to the presidentabout the... MORE