On May 31, Russianforeign minister Andrei Kozyrev signed the Partnership for Peaceagreement and a side accord calling for the establishment of a specialrelationship between Russia and NATO, Moscow radio reported. How fastthat relationship will develop remains to be seen. On the one hand,NATO foreign ministers... MORE

Saying that future talks with theChechens could only be about the terms of their surrender, Russiancommander Lt. Gen. Anatoly Kulikov ordered his troops into themountains, Interfax reported May 30. Kulikov, who has been on medicalleave for a month, pledged that he would carry out Yeltsin's... MORE

Boris Gromov, a general who now serves asmilitary advisor at the Russian Foreign Ministry, called for a completeRussian withdrawal from Chechnya and direct talks with Chechenpresident Dzhokhar Dudayev, Moscow radio reported May 30. Gromov saidMoscow had failed to learn the lessons of Afghanistan and that... MORE

Thedeath toll from the killer earthquake on Sakhalin continues to risewith most Russian officials now saying it will exceed 2,000, Itar-Tassreported May 30. OMON troops have sealed off the area around Neftegorskto prevent looting, Moscow radio reported. The enormous distances thatassistance workers must travel--Sakhalin is... MORE

Lt. Gen. Aleksandr Lebed, controversialcommander of the 14th Russian Army in Moldova's Transdniestr region,submitted his resignation May 30, Moscow radio reported. The radio saidthat Lebed had submitted it to the commander of Russian ground troops,a man who has often been Lebed's protector against defense ministerGrachev.... MORE

Following last week's visit ofthe Russian defense minister to Beijing, and the upcoming visit of theChinese premier to Moscow, the Russian government has moved to expandties with China and other Asian states. Russian interior ministerViktor Yarin visited the Chinese capital May 29-30 to arrange closercooperation... MORE

Yeltsin aide Georgy Satarovtold a May 28 conference near Moscow that Russian political groupsdivide according to what periods of the past they fear, what spatialarrangements of the country they are concerned with, and what forcesthey believe control the situation behind the scenes, Segodnya reportedMay 30.... MORE

That is the advice of theFederal Security Service department head charged with monitoringRussia's nuclear materials, According to the May 26 Izvestiya, Gen.Aleksei Pushkarenko has concluded that there are no criminal groupsspecifically involved in the smuggling of nuclear materials, and thatany leaks are coming from research... MORE

Press reports tothe contrary, there have been "no cases" of insubordination amongRussian officers and men during the Chechen campaign, the main militaryprosecutor for the North Caucasus Military District told Donskayapanorama March 31. Maj. Gen. Solovev told the Rostov paper that therehad been many cases of... MORE

Having failed twice tohave the country's Constitutional Court rule on the legality ofYeltsin's actions in Chechnya, the upper house of the Russianparliament has filed papers again, Moscow radio reported May 30. Now,the Federation Council has the Yeltsin order in a unclassified form andhas paid the... MORE