Following an impressive 50-percent spurt in the first quarter of 2000, growth in the index of trading on the Ukrainian stock market in Kyiv cooled to a much slower 5 percent during the second quarter. Growth in shares traded at the PFTS, the main trading... MORE

Embarrassment and some confusion appeared to characterize Moscow's reaction yesterday to the fact that Russia was not represented at the emergency Middle East summit conference which took place in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh. In addition to the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Ehud Barak... MORE

On October 15, the Udmurtia Republic held its first presidential election. Prior to this, it had no post of president. It was a parliamentary republic, meaning that the Udmurtia Republic State Council, the republic's parliament, appointed the chairman of the Udmurtia Republic government. The elections... MORE

The parliamentary elections, which President Alyaksandr Lukashenka staged on October 15 in Belarus, turned into an embarrassment to the president and a moral success for the boycotting opposition. Belarusan legislative and local elections are always treated by Lukashenka as a plebiscite on his rule. But... MORE

The indecisiveness of Russian policy toward Yugoslavia, so evident in the days which followed the country's disputed September 24 election, has continued in the wake of newly elected President Vojislav Kostunica's formal assumption of authority on October 7. And its erratic aspect has in fact... MORE

Boris Berezovsky will appear at the Prosecutor General's Office in Moscow tomorrow to answer questions connected to the Aeroflot case, involving the alleged embezzlement of hundreds of millions of dollars from Russia's state airline by two Swiss firms linked to the controversial tycoon. Anonymous Russian... MORE

On October 11 in Bishkek, Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia, Alyaksandr Lukashenka of Belarus, Robert Kocharian of Armenia, Nursultan Nazarbaev of Kazakhstan, Askar Akaev of Kyrgyzstan and Imomali Rahmonov of Tajikistan laid the foundation of a military-political bloc under Russian leadership. Putin in effect corralled... MORE

The National Bank of Belarus recently announced the unification of exchange rates of the Belarusan ruble, signaling progress in the effort to reform the nation's economy (Reuters, September 13). Unifying exchange rates is a key component of both World Bank and IMF lending programs, and... MORE

The Belarusan grain harvest is nearly complete, with crops totaling just over 5 million tons (Belarusan Radio First, September 19). Crop output in 2000 is expected to show improvement over the disastrous harvest of 1999, but agricultural output overall is still on an overall downward... MORE

Belarusan debts to Russian and Lithuanian oil, gas and electricity suppliers remain unpaid, causing potential difficulties as world energy prices soar. At the beginning of 2000, Belarus owed an estimated US$62 million to Russian oil companies, while as of July arrears for natural gas to... MORE