FederationCouncil speaker Vladimir Shumeiko told a Moscow press conferenceafter his return from visits to Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armeniathat "without peace in the Caucasus, it will be impossibleto defend the strategic interests of Russia, Russian radio reportedJuly 18. In particular, he said, Russia required peace in... MORE

In a speech to a Moscowseminar on relations between the Federal Assembly and Russia'sregions, Vladimir Shumeiko warned that "distrust in the federalauthorities is growing in the regions because [Moscow] does nottake their interests into account," Russian television reportedJuly 18. He noted that all 89 subjects... MORE

Ukrainianriot police attacked some 1,000 mourners who were seeking to burythe leader of the patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church inKiev's St. Sophia Cathedral after church authorities had refusedthem permission to do so, Kiev radio reported July 18. Variouspolitical figures denounced the government for its... MORE

British Gashas discovered a major deposit of oil and gas near Eupatoria whichcould meet more than 65 percent of Ukraine's oil and gas needswere it developed, Vek reported in its July 14-20 issue.Successful exploitation of this field would enable Ukraine toend its energy dependence on... MORE

The Russian army offers soldiers working on a contract basisin Moldova's Transdniester region high pay and a variety of specialfacilities, Russian television reported July 18. All of thesebenefits are greater than those offered to contract soldiers elsewhere,and suggest that Moscow is planning to keep its... MORE

Ukrainianforeign minister Hennadi Udovenko said July 18 that Ukraine willactively participate in the CIS and its economic bodies but onlyif the CIS does not become a confederation, or federation, orotherwise diminish Ukrainian sovereignty, Interfax-Ukraine reported.Udovenko also noted that Kiev had asked Yeltsin to include onthe... MORE

Ukrainian officials demanded that the United Nations pullUkrainian troops from Bosnia, warning that a "huge tragedy"would occur unless that happened. In an unusual move, Russianforeign minister Andrei Kozyrev publicly expressed sympathy forthe Ukrainian position but continued to warn against any introductionof NATO troops into Bosnia,... MORE

A poll conducted by a Minsk institute shows that 64.3 percentof Belarusians fear that food prices hikes will keep them fromeating adequately, 53.4 percent fear another ecological disaster,47 percent are afraid of price hikes for electricity, 41 percentare afraid of crime, and 25.3 percent fear... MORE

At the conclusionof their July 17-18 summit meeting in Minsk, Ukrainian presidentLeonid Kuchma and Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko agreedto talk at least twice a week in the future, and to meet in Ukrainenext month, Interfax reported. Lukashenko said that his country'sclose ties to Russia "do... MORE

Moscow'sSegodnya newspaper on July 18 dismissed as absurd Estoniancomplaints that Russia's return to the use of Russian-transliteratednames for Estonian cities and towns represents a violation ofinternational law. Meanwhile, the Estonian government refusedto allow two municipal governments to use Russian as the locallanguage of administration, BNS... MORE