A cartoon in the May 20 Trud captures the contradictions inherent in Moscow's defense conversion efforts. It shows a visitor querying a security guard at a defense plant. "How's defense conversion going at your plant? asks the visitor. "That's a military secret," replies the guard.... MORE

Russian forces reduced some combat operations June 7 as units prepared to assault Chechen forces in the mountains, Moscow media reported. But Interfax said that there were intense battles going on in the southeast, and Moscow radio reported that there had been some spillover of... MORE

Russian foreign minister Andrei Kozyrev said in London June 7 that Russia did not need to cast a veto at the United Nations because the new NATO rapid deployment force for Bosnia was well within the terms of the UN mandate, Moscow radio reported. Talks... MORE

Russian officials continued to play down expectations for any breakthrough at the Yeltsin-Kuchma summit June 9. Yeltsin's press secretary Sergei Medvedev, for example, told Moscow radio June 7 that "it is possible that Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kuchma's meeting will not resolve any practical problems... MORE

Only 167 people are still listed as missing in the wreckage from the May 27 earthquake on Sakhalin, Moscow television said June 7. The broadcast also featured a denunciation of local officials by Russian deputy prime minister Oleg Soskovets. Soskovets, who is in charge of... MORE

The closure of Nezavisimaya gazeta and Kuranty is only the tip of the iceberg as far as the problems of the liberal press are concerned, Duma media committee chairman told Moskovskaya pravda June 7. "Out of the 23,000 newspapers that we managed to create in... MORE

Russian fascist groups are drawing increasing support because 70 percent of Russians believe that law and order should be restored regardless of the cost, Izvestiya reported June 6. The paper noted that Yeltsin's March 23 decree on fighting fascism has proved ineffective and that fascist... MORE

The regions should be allowed to keep some of the taxes they raise rather than sending all revenues to Moscow and waiting for the center to send some money back, regional officials told Moscow representatives at a June 5 meeting in Krasnoyarsk. Some 66 of... MORE

On June 7, the Russian Duma began to debate a draft law which would give Kaliningrad a special status, BNS reported. The Russian government appears to be opposed to any grant of such status to the region, but Duma deputies suggested that a failure to... MORE

The Moscow city council, enraged by the Russian government's decision to impose tariffs on imported foods and thus send food prices higher, will sue Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Chubais who has claimed that any increase in prices will be the fault of local officials, Segodnya... MORE