Armenian officials will begin powering up the Metzamor nuclear power station June 19 but will not insert the nuclear fuel rods until later this summer, Noyan Tapan news agency said June 12. Russian radio reported June 10 that Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin will attend... MORE

The commander of Tajikistan's special forces brigade Izat Lukuganov was killed June 12 when assailants attacked his car with machine-gun fire, Russian television news reported June 12. Tajik officials noted that opposition groups had intensified their activities inside the country now that Russian forces had... MORE

President Nursultan Nazarbayev has approved a draft constitution which creates a bicameral legislature, allows the parliament to impeach the president, but which allows the president to prorogue parliament, Moscow's Ekho radio reported June 12. The draft will be considered by the Assembly of Peoples of... MORE

Most of the officers guarding Kyrgyzstan's border with China are Russian, but most of the soldiers--some 70 percent--are Kyrgyz, Russian television reported June 12. Russian officials held up this arrangement as a model on the third anniversary of the Russia-Kyrgyzstan friendship treaty. Meanwhile, Kyrgyzstan president... MORE

An ad campaign for Snickers candy bars in Latvia has Latvians doing a double take. The ads, which appear to have been poorly translated, say that Snickers gives "sexual gratification" every time. The Monitor is a publication of the Jamestown Foundation. It is researched and... MORE

In his message on the fifth anniversary of Russia's declaration of sovereignty, President Boris Yeltsin claimed that the main achievement of the period had been "the destruction of one of the worst, most merciless totalitarian systems," Itar-Tass reported June 11. "I think that over the... MORE

Russian forces continued their attacks on Shatoi and Nozhay-Yurt June 12 as the two sides entered their seventh month of fighting, Itar-Tass reported June 12. Russian commanders said that they were having to fight for every inch of ground and that both sides were suffering... MORE

Yeltsin's national security aide Oleg Lobov met with Lt. Gen. Aleksandr Lebed to assess the general's claim that the 14th Army's arsenal could fall into criminal hands if Lebed's resignation as the army's commander is accepted, Itar-Tass reported June 12. Lobov refused to provide any... MORE

Speaking in Yekaterinburg June 9, the chairman of the Duma's economics committee said that recent Russian government statements about the economy were far too optimistic, Segodnya reported June 10. Mikhail Zadornov said that the costs of the Chechen war and upper pressure on prices would... MORE

The Duma will repeat the second reading of the bill which would have businesses share production with the government rather than pay some taxes, Kommersant-Daily reported June 10. The paper said that the Duma had taken this unusual step after its members had rejected all... MORE