On June 21, the Ukrainian parliament voted 227 to 61 to dismiss Ukraine's chief prosecutor Vladyslav Datsiuk for corruption, Kiev radio reported. Datsiuk sounded anything but repentent: "under present conditions," he said, "it is hard to find a blameless person." But this apparently normal action... MORE

Some 40,000 Armenians rallied in Yerevan June 20 to protest what protest leaders said were President Levon Ter-Petrosian's heavy-handed efforts to limit democracy there, the Noyan Tapan agency reported June 21. The following day some of the demonstrators continued their protest at the presidential palace.... MORE

OSCE-sponsored talks in Helsinki on resolving the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan have made some progress with the two sides actually discussing the issues rather than simply scoring debating points, and agreeing early on to another meeting next month. Each side now has compelling reasons... MORE

On an extended visit to Moscow, Armenian Patriarch Karekin I conferred with a wide range of officials, both secular and religious, the Noyan-Tapan news agency reported June 15-19. The main reception in his honor featured Duma hardliners Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Konstantin Zatulin, former USSR prime... MORE

Representatives of the Caspian littoral states will meet in Tehran soon, an Iranian diplomat told the Turan news agency June 20. The countries around the Caspian divide between Russia, which believes the sea is a lake and thus subject to joint control, and Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan,... MORE

Two gunmen in Tbilisi killed the chairman of the Fund for the Revival of Democracy, Shaliko Khabioshvili, June 20, Russian radio reported June 21. Khabioshvili was a close friend and supporter of Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze. He had been a secretary of the Georgian Communist... MORE

Lt. Gen. Pavel Vasko, the commander of Russian border guards in Kyrgyzstan, told Slovo Kyrgyzstana May 27 that he and his men were happy in that Central Asian republic both because it was where he was born and because the Kyrgyz authorities were so cooperative.... MORE

A Russian scientist said on Moscow television June 19 that Americans should have to compensate Russia for the air they breathe. That is because, the scientist said, Russia's massive forests provide much of the oxygen that Americans rely on. In other comments, he suggested tht... MORE

After the Duma voted 241 to 72 with 20 abstentions June 21 in support of a no confidence resolution in the Russian government, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin on June 22 asked for another vote, Itar-Tass reported. Such a vote, if it went against Chernomyrdin, would... MORE

Chechen negotiator Usman Imayev said that he had reached agreement with the Russian side on all military issues, Russian radio reported June 22. Umayev said that the Chechens were prepared to renounce terrorism and to help find Shamil Basayev and others responsible for the raid... MORE