Following the latest attack on a pipeline carrying gas toArmenia through Georgia, Yerevan said it will not attend futureOSCE Karabakh meetings until Armenia receives internationalguarantees that Armenia will get the energy it needs,Respublika Armenia reported May 23. The Armenian governmentblamed Azerbaijan for the latest pipeline... MORE

After a two-weekhiatus, "Golos Rodiny" resumed operations May 23. Curiously,the paper reported that it had been able to do so because ofthe intervention of Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosyan,whom many had blamed for the paper's closure. Both Moscow andthe Armenian opposition had sharply criticized the Yerevanauthorities... MORE

Oleg Panfilovwrote in the May 23 Nezavsimaya gazeta that there had been noprogress at the talks in either Kabul or Alma-Ata between theTajik government and the Tajik opposition. Panfilov also notedthat the Tajik president Umamoli Rakhmonov had tried to blockseveral Western journalists from covering the... MORE

In its first day of trading, the Tajikruble was virtually steady, closing at 51 to the US dollar,Moscow radio reported. Tajikistan was the last former Sovietrepublic to introduce its own currency, and because of itspolitical difficulties and small reserves, many observers hadexpected the currency to... MORE

Armenians have always had afondness for good jokes despite the difficulties their countryhas found itself in. According to Yerevan's Russian-languageweekly Ourartou this week, one particularly popular storycirculating there now goes like this. Two Armenian women aretalking. "Is your husband coming back from Russia?" "Not yet.""So,... MORE

Intense fighting continued throughout thefoothills in southern Chechnya May 22, Itar-Tass reported. The Russiansattacked the key town of Serzhen-Yurt, but the Chechens repulsed theirattacks. In Chechnya, the special mission of the Organization for Securityand Cooperation in Europe announced that Russian and Chechen representativeswould meet May... MORE

Moscow television reported May 23 that BorisYeltsin will veto the law establishing procedures for the parliamentaryelections. The Russian president objects to two provisions of the measure:one setting an even split between single-member constituencies and partylists--Yeltsin wants more single-member district seats--and the other banningcabinet members and... MORE

Iran's IRNA news agency said May 22 that Russian presidentBoris Yeltsin would visit Iran sometime later this year. The White Housereacted coolly to this latest indication that Yeltsin is prepared to scornthe United States on the issue of dealing with Iran. Yeltsin's visit wouldcertainly be... MORE

The Russian armed forces inChechnya now include three different categories of fighters: $2 a dayconscripts, $500 a month special forces career soldiers, and "kontrakniki"mercenaries who are paid but also engage in massive looting. This lattergroup has been drawn to the fighting through articles and ads... MORE

Duma deputy StanislavGovorukhin, the chairman of a commission on Chechnya, told Vechernyaya MoskvaMay 18 that his group has been denied access to key documentation on theconflict. Govorukhin also said he believes that defense minister PavelGrachev had warned Yeltsin's Security Council before the invasion thatRussian forces... MORE