Arguing that the West should not pay for the demilitarization of Kaliningrad, Lithuanian opposition leader Vytautas Landsbergis told a press conference June 5 that "the Baltic states, seeing a number of Molotov's followers, can only hope that there will be no followers of Ribbentrop." Landsbergis'... MORE

President Leonid Kuchma's chief military advisor said that Kiev had not signed on to the CIS collective security treaty because "we don't want our lads to get killed in Chechnya or on the Tajik-Afghan border," Kiev's Nezavisimost reported May 24. Maj. Gen. Vadim Grechaninov said... MORE

The Ukrainian government will introduce the hryvna in place of the discredited karbonovets this fall, President Leonid Kuchma announced June 5, according to Kiev radio. Kuchma said that the new currency would be backed by a $1.5 billion stabilization fund. Lvov Turns Off Russian Television.

The authorities in the western Ukrainian city of Lvov announced June 5 that they would no longer carry Moscow television because the Russian station had failed to pay for retransmission costs, Kiev radio reported. The local government will continue to broadcast Moscow's news program, but... MORE

Armenian negotiators met with representatives from Iran and Turkmenistan to work out agreements on the flow of gas and other products among the three countries, Yerevan radio reported June 1. The agreements--which anticipate the flow of these products via Iran--will be signed at a foreign... MORE

On a visit to Baku to sign an agreement on fighting crime, Russian Federal Security Service director Sergei Stepashin said that Azerbaijan is an important path for arms going to the Chechen rebels, Turan news agency reported June 2. Stepashin added that Azerbaijan was not... MORE

Kazakhstan's deputy defense minister Maj. Gen. Aitkali Isengulov said that he was proud that death rates among Kazakh soldiers had fallen dramatically over the last three years, Kazakhstanskaya pravda reported May 13. The number of soldiers dying from suicides and barracks violence fell 32 percent... MORE

Local militia and military officers now conduct regular raids to apprehend draft dodgers in Tajikistan, sometimes "enlisting" young men right on the street, Pravda reported June 1. The authorities have adopted this strategy because only 40 percent of those called actually show up for induction,... MORE

The Stalin Society in Georgia has launched a new brand of vodka with a portrait of the late Soviet dictator on the label, Rabochaya tribuna reported May 23. Stalin joins some select company in this regard: Gorbachev, Yeltsin, Zhirinovsky and Clinton all have had their... MORE

Russian forces apparently occupied the important Chechen command center at Vedeno June 4 after three days of heavy fighting and losses on both sides, Itar-Tass said. On June 2, one of Dudayev's personal aides reportedly was killed during a Russian bombing attack, Interfax said. Chechen... MORE