Lukashenko's chiefspokesman Uladzimir Zametalin charged via Interfax August 7 thatRussian media "are engaged in information warfare" againstLukashenko, are campaigning against Minsk's policies, and aremisrepresenting the situation in the country. Zametalin imputedthe campaign to "circles opposing CIS integration"--aclear allusion to economic reformers unwilling to saddle Russiawith... MORE

Turkish foreign minister Erdal Inonu arrivedAugust 7 in Belarus on an official visit featuring talks withthe country's top leadership and the signing of a friendship andcooperation treaty, as well as several economic agreements. Constitutional Stalemate in Georgia.

From August 2through the 10th, warships of Bulgaria (acting as host), Ukraine,Romania, Turkey, the USA (Sixth Fleet), Greece, Italy, France,and Spain are conducting joint exercises in the western BlackSea. Russia has been invited but so far has not joined the exercise.Code-named Breeze 95, the exercises... MORE

Russian DeputyPrime Minister Sergei Shakhrai told Tavricheskie Vedomosti,as cited by Interfax August 7, that the Black Sea Fleet can onlybe preserved if it belongs entirely to Russia. He also advisedagainst signing the existing Russian-Ukrainian draft interstatetreaty. Multinational Exercises in the Black Sea.

Condemning "the hooligans" who defaced Jewish gravestonesin Vilnius last week, Lithuania's former president and currentopposition leader Vytautas Landsbergis told the country's parliamentthat such incidents may be provoked in order to thwart Lithuania'sintegration with the West, and particularly her accession to NATO.Landsbergis recalled the rash of... MORE

TheYouth Institute Scientific Research Center's Deputy Director VladimirRodionov told Interfax August 7 that that 95,000 Russian citizenswere born and 157,000 died since the beginning of 1995, providingfurther evidence of the continuing net decline of the Russianpopulation. Russian Unemployment Reaches Record Mark.

There are 9.6million unemployed in Russia, which represents 13 percent of theactive labor force, Federal Employment Service Director IrinaMilkina told Itar-Tass August 6. However , according to opinionpolls cited by Milkina, most Russians do not consider unemploymentto be their main problem. Ahead of unemployment, they... MORE

Since signing the Geneva Convention on the rights of immigrantsand refugees, Russia has become a transit country for illegalmigration from poor Asian countries to the West, Federal MigrationService Director Tatyana Regent told Independent TV August 6. On the black market, a counterfeit invitation to Russia... MORE

...The Duma's Council, an advisorybody which is responsible for matters of procedure, has failedto convene to consider calling an emergency session of the Duma.The request for such a session had been submitted by the Yablokoand Communist factions, in the hope of overriding the FederationCouncil's veto... MORE

. The CentralElectoral Commission has issued an instruction requiring all mediato print free of charge the government's election propaganda,Moscow's Echo radio reported August 7. Although the instructionformally covers only "mass media in which the governmentowns part of the capital," in practice it is almost all-embracingbecause... MORE