An unnamed Russian foreignministry official sharply criticized the most recent NATO airstrikein Bosnia as "unnecessary," Interfax reported July 12.Earlier, Yeltsin`s national security adviser Yuri Baturin saidthat the conflict in the former Yugoslavia is a test of strengthbetween Russia and the West, Moscow's Echo Radio reported... MORE

At a press briefing after his meeting with his Algerian counterpart,Russian foreign minister Andrei Kozyrev said that UN sanctionsagainst Iraq and Libya "must not become an instrument forpunishing peoples or replacing regimes," Interfax reportedJuly 11. Yeltsin Names Nuclear Power Minister to Security Council.

Ina decree published in the July 11 Rossiiskiye vesti, Yeltsinnamed new interior minister Anatoly Kulikov and nuclear powerminister Viktor Mikhailov to the Russian Security Council. Theappointment of Kulikov was entirely expected; that of Mikhailov--whoKozyrev suggested in May was out of step with Moscow's policy--wasnot, and... MORE

At the ConstitutionalCourt hearings on the legality of Yeltsin's order to send troopsto Chechnya in December 1994, his chief defender, deputy premierSergei Shakhrai, blamed Mikhail Gorbachev for the Chechen crisis,Russian media reported July 10. That is because the former Sovietpresident supported Chechnya against the Russian... MORE

In aJuly 11 Segodnya article, former Russian finance ministerBoris Fedorov said that the soft peg of the Russian ruble againstthe dollar would destabilize the economy. Russia has failed tomeet all of its macroeconomic promises to the IMF, he said, notingthat inflation averaged 12 percent a... MORE

Russianinvestigative journalist Yuri Shchekochikhin told Moscow televisionJuly 10 that he has documents proving that corrupt Russian militaryofficers sold guns and ammunition to Chechen President DzhokharDudayev. One defense plant in Izhevsk sold Dudayev 7,000 machine-gunsvia Cyprus, and another in the Russian Far East sold the Chechens16... MORE

A group of RussianFederation Muslims have created a new electoral bloc, the "IslamicCommittee," which is committed to the territorial integrityof Russia and also to close Russian ties with Muslim countries,Moscow television reported July 11. The group's leader, HeidarJamal, is a frequent contributor to the Russian... MORE

South African presidentNelson Mandela will shortly visit Russia in connection with SouthAfrican defense minister' Joe Modise`s ongoing five-day visit,Independent TV reported July 10. Modise, the first senior SouthAfrican official ever to visit Russia, thanked his Moscow hostsfor the USSR`s help to his movement. Modise is... MORE

Ata meeting in Bishkek, billed as the first in what are to becomeregular periodic meetings of this kind, representatives of foreignministries of all CIS member countries agreed to coordinate theirpositions on European problems, including their participationin NATO´s Partnership for Peace program, said Kyrgyzstan´sforeign minister Roza... MORE

Turning the Commonwealth ofIndependent States into "an effective regional organization"was the main topic discussed at a meeting between Prime MinisterViktor Chernomyrdin and Russia´s ambassadors to the CIS member-countries,the foreign ministry's CIS Affairs Department head Leonid Drachevskytold a Moscow briefing. The subject was also discussed last... MORE