FederationCouncil chairman Vladimir Shumeiko confirmed that during the recentSecurity Council session, both he and Yeltsin spoke in favor ofdismissing Pavel Grachev as defense minister, NTV reported July9. Shumeiko said that a majority of the Security Council's membersagreed; he did not provide any explanation why Grachev... MORE

Russia´s defense minister General Pavel Grachev and hisSouth African counterpart Joe Modise began discussions July 10in Moscow on bilateral military cooperation. Grachev told Interfaxthat Russia views South Africa as a "strategic partner"and will pursue a "clear and coordinated policy" toestablish military ties in the near... MORE

The fighting inChechnya has made strange enemies as well as strange allies, Moskovskykomsomolets reported July 8. Among those it has split apartare the communists and the Russian nationalists, with the formerbeing more willing to meet Chechen demands and the latter believingthat the Chechens must be... MORE

TheMoscow police have arrested so many Chechens who are legally inMoscow, but who have not committed any crime, that the local Chechencommunity has appealed to Mayor Yuri Luzhkov to reissue his February1995 appeal to treat each Chechen according to his deserts, Kurantyreported July 7. New... MORE

AndreiBabushkin, a member of Yeltsin's human rights advisory panel,said the new Russian criminal code "bears the negative traitsof the former socialist code" and seems intended to makelife easier for law enforcement structures rather than to protecthuman rights, Vechernyaya Moskva reported July 7. Duma to Debate... MORE

The Duma will debatea Communist-backed resolution of impeachment against Yeltsin onJuly 11, Interfax reported. The debate had been scheduled forJuly 6 but was put off when deputies could not agree on the formationof a commission to examine charges against the Russian president.It may be put... MORE

Despite all suggestionsto the contrary, the Russian Duma generally supports Boris Yeltsin,Duma speaker Ivan Rybkin told Rossiya July 5-11. In thelast 18 months, Rybkin reported, the Duma has rejected only fourof the more than 100 proposals made by the president. Federation Council Law Unlikely Before... MORE

The FederationCouncil's first deputy chairman Mikhail Mityukov said that therewas insufficient time to pass a law on the formation of the parliament'supper house before that body's summer recess, Interfax reportedJuly 10, but he suggested that a law would be passed in the fall.Unless that happens,... MORE

In the first half of 1995,Russian industrial output fell 3 percent compared to a year ago,Russian radio reported July 10. In the first half of last year,output fell 24 percent from 1993 levels. Privatization to be Speeded Up.

Sergei Belyayev, the chairmanof the State Property Committee, told a conference in Saint Petersburgthat Moscow planned to accelerate the privatization of both enterprisesand the land they sit on, Segodnya reported July 8. Hesaid that the central authorities might use the Petersburg formula--tentimes annual rental--to set... MORE