A Duma deputy said that streetwalkers in the Russian capital could be easily identified because of their strong preference for t-shirts bearing advertising for the Moskovsky komsomolets newspaper, Russian television reported June 14. His comments came as the Duma failed to adopt a new law... MORE

Russian forces took Shatoi and Nozhai-Yurt June 13 after heavy fighting, leaving the Chechens in complete control of only one regional center, Bamut, Itar-Tass reported. Russian commanders and political commentators suggested that these victories had split the Chechen forces and presaged an early end to... MORE

North Caucasus military district commander Gen. Anatoly Kvashin said that the Russian forces had lost 1,752 men as of June 6; he put Dudayev's losses at over 14,000. The flow of blood has begun to prompt more criticism in Moscow. Duma deputy Yuli Rybakov of... MORE

A foreign ministry spokesman sharply criticized France for its plans to resume nuclear testing, Itar-Tass reported June 14. The official said that France should live up to the spirit as well as the letter of nuclear testing limitations, as Russia has done. Yeltsin Thanks Japan... MORE

Boris Yeltsin sent a message to Tokyo June 12, thanking the Japanese for their assistance in the aftermath of the May 27 earthquake on Sakhalin, Russian television reported June 12. Yeltsin had earlier rejected, and then accepted, such aid, infuriating the Japanese. As the cleanup... MORE

Russian independence day this year was a "gloomy" one, historian Yuri Afanasyev told Moscow television June 12. The country has lost its drive toward democracy, and has not yet been able to decide to move toward federalism at home and to give up imperial ambitions... MORE

Tass chief and new Deputy Premier Vitaly Ignatenko told Obshchaya gazeta (June 8-14) that he was more worried about the activities of Western news agencies "freely operating in the Russian information market" than about the Russian media itself. "This will be one of my priorities:... MORE

A report prepared by a Duma committee and the Russian State Committee on Defense Industries shows that Western companies are purchasing large blocs of shares in Russian defense plants, Birzhevskie vedomosti (no. 23) reported. Two US firms hold more than 54 percent of the stock... MORE

Speaking on the first anniversary of the adoption of Yeltsin's anti-crime law, deputy interior minister Mikhail Yegorov said that his men lacked the laws and resources to fight crime in Russian society, Moscow radio reported June 13. He and his men are fighting corruption in... MORE

Businessmen in Moscow are refusing to accept the new 100,000 ruble notes (worth about $20) because of fears of counterfeiting, Moskovskaya pravda reported June 9. Meanwhile, Deputy Premier Anatoly Chubais said that the government was preparing a new law that would increase the penalties for... MORE