The Georgian parliament has proposed that Russia be askedto remove its peacekeeping units from Abkhazia so that Tbilisicould reestablish its authority in that region, NTV reported July20. Meanwhile, the Abkhaz authorities have reinforced their positionsalong the Georgian-Abkhaz border to prevent any repatriation ofGeorgian refugees. To... MORE

Russianradio, television, and newspapers have given extensive coverageto the arrival in Ukraine of American marines who will participatein a joint exercise with Ukrainian forces July 26-29. Possiblyrelated was the prominence given to the appearance in Moscow ofthe former, and pro-Russian, president of Crimea, Yuri Meshkov.Meshkov... MORE

Senior Ukrainian law enforcement officials told Interfax-UkraineJuly 21 that they believed former Ukrainian president Leonid Kravchukhad helped spark the violence between mourners of a Ukrainianorthodox prelate and local militia. Kravchuk reportedly incitedthe crowd by saying that Patriarch Vladimir could be buried nowherebut the St. Sophia... MORE

TheRussian foreign ministry told Vilnius July 21 that Moscow hadpunished two pilots for overflying Lithuania without permissionin June, and that Russia would not violate Lithuanian airspacein the future, BNS reported July 21. Such unsanctioned overflightshave been a constant irritant in Russian-Lithuanian relationssince 1991. Lukashenko Lashes... MORE

On the occasionof a Minsk visit by Russian Orthodox Patriarch Aleksei II, Belarusianpresident Aleksandr Lukashenko warned against "spiritualand ideological aggression" from Roman Catholic and Protestantchurches, Interfax reported July 22. In other comments, Lukashenkosaid that only Orthodoxy could serve as the basis for Slavic unity. Kiev... MORE

Ukrainian foreignminister Heddani Udovenko told Interfax-Ukraine July 21-22 thatKiev was prepared to serve as both host and mediator to the conflictin Bosnia. Udovenko said that, unlike some others, Ukraine hadno geopolitical interests in the Balkans and thus could be acceptableto all sides. Meanwhile, Russia and... MORE

The Russian Duma on July 21 ratified the treaties on Russiantroop withdrawal from Estonia, and on social guarantees for retiredRussian military personnel still living in that Baltic republic,BNS reported. The two agreements were signed by President BorisYeltsin and President Lennart Meri in July 1994. Estonia... MORE

In what may presage a renewed struggle between the two domesticintelligence agencies, the Federal Security Service arrested Tverinterior ministry chief Yevgeny Roitman for taking bribes, Kommersant-Dailyreported July 21. Meanwhile, the chief of the Vladivostokadministration for combating organized crime, Maj. Gen. AleksandrBondarenko, was arrested for abuse... MORE

Ninetypercent of the members of an arms smuggling ring, which the Russianmedia have repeatedly described as an Estonian gang, are in factethnic Russians living in Estonia, Ostankino television reportedJuly 20.

The notorious"propiska," or residence permit, which Soviet officialsused to control the movement of the population and which the Russiancourts have declared unconstitutional, will be replaced by a residencepermit, Moskovsky komsomolets reported on July 21. Thenew document will be issued by the same interior ministry officials,cost... MORE