. Having purportedly "fulfilledtheir task," paratroop units were withdrawn from the streetsof Moscow and returned to their bases, the Defense Ministry announcedvia ITAR-TASS August 9. The 3,500 paratroopers, along with 16,000other troops, had been deployed in Moscow since June 16, "toprevent Chechen terrorist acts." It... MORE

Pursuant to an August 9 decisionby the Duma's council, an extraordinary session of the full Dumahas been called for August 12 to debate the draft electoral law,Interfax reported this morning. The session was proposed by theCommunist and Yabloko groups, which hope, as do many other... MORE

. Cease-fire violations decreased on August 8 butvirtual stalemate persisted at the Russian-Chechen negotiationsin Grozny. The sides remained far apart on the question of thefuture status of Chechnya. Nor was there any progress towardestablishing procedures for an exchange of prisoners. The commanderof Russian forces in... MORE

. In a statement issued August8, Duma Chairman Ivan Rybkin voiced "outrage" over Croatia'sactions, urged that "Croatia's leaders be decisively rebuffedby the world community," and warned that the Duma "cannot and will not calmly watch this course of events." DemocraticParty leader Sergei Glaziev, Agrarian Party... MORE

. Following PresidentBoris Yeltsin's August 7 invitation to Serbia's and Croatia'spresidents, Slobodan Milosevic and Franjo Tudjman, for Russian-mediatedtalks in Moscow, Russia's First Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Ivanovexpressed August 8 "extremely serious concern over the actionsof Croatia's army," and demanded a halt to those actionsand insisted... MORE

Evidently Vladimir Zhirinovsky sharesthe concern of many Russians that Zhirinovsky's followers arenot in their right mind. The flamboyant ultra-nationalist recentlyasked the psychiatric clinic in Nizhny Novgorod to test the mentalhealth of nine local members of his party who are trying to defect. The psychiatrists responded... MORE

Georgian parliamentchairman Eduard Shevardnadze told Tbilisi Radio August 7 thatthe draft constitution, or at least its main provisions, may soonhave to be submitted to

Formal legal proceedings began August7 in Erevan against 11 members of the alleged Dro secret organization,said to form part of the opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation(Dashnaksutyun) and who are accused of terrorism against the authorities.The 11, who are charged inter alia with assassinating Yerevan'smayor Ambartsum Galstyan,... MORE

Since July28, Uzbekistan has suspended deliveries of natural gas to Tajikistan,the Petroleum Information Agency reported August 7. The reasonfor the suspension is Tajikistan's failure to pay its arrears,which have grown to $140 million since 1992. Uzbekistan's movealso amounts in part to a political signal reflecting... MORE

A seniorBelarus diplomat denied to Interfax August 7 that his countryis blocking the handover to Russia of the 18 strategic nuclearmissiles still left on Belarus territory. However he admittedthat President Aleksandr Lukashenko has slowed down the transfer.According to the official, Belarus lays no claim to... MORE