Deputy Prime Minister OlegSoskovets told Nezavisimaya gazeta May 19 that "we are in trouble" on thebudget because of the rising expenses of the Chechen war. The special Chechnyareconstruction commission he heads will have to get funds fromelsewhere--possibly including even taking money that had been budgeted... MORE

Russian justice ministerValentin Kovalev told Rossiiskaya gazeta May 17 that no one knew who hadcommitted the Samashki atrocities. Meanwhile, the UN Human RightsCommission announced that it is sending a representative to Moscow andChechnya "at the invitation of the Russian government." No Centrifuge Sale But...

Russia's nuclear energy ministry said thatMoscow had no plans to sell a nuclear extraction centrifuge to Iran, Moscow radioreported May 18. But the ministry added that Iran has asked for assistance to builda plant that will produce fuelfor nuclear reactors, a request the ministry indicated... MORE

A US State Departmentstatement that Moscow would sign the Partnership for Peace agreement on May31 was "premature," a Russian foreign ministry official told Nezavsimaya gazetaMay 19. The official said that the signing could take place by then, but only if anumber of issues were first... MORE

By a vote of 265 to 6, the Russianparliament urged that Moscow provide more aid to Iraq, and expand its economicties with that Arab state as soon as UN sanctions are lifted, Rossiiskiye vesti saidMay 19. While the resolution is not binding, it does reflect... MORE

At a meeting in Sofia May 19, Russian primeminister Viktor Chernomyrdin said that Moscow was inclined to back theconstruction of a pipeline from the Bulgarian port of Bourgas to the Greek port ofAlexandropolis, Moscow radio reported May 20. The 180-mile pipeline wouldallow Russia to export... MORE

The number of crimes committed by Russianmilitary men fell 15 percent from 1993 to 1994, but this decline largely reflectedthe contraction in the number of people serving in the army, Na strazhezapolyar'ya reported April 8. Most of the cases involved draft evasion ordesertion. The paper... MORE

One inevery seven square miles of the Russian Federation is too contaminated for safehuman habitation, Pravda reported May 18. Chemical dumping, poor nuclearwaste management, and the absence of a plan to clean up Soviet-era disasters,including Chernobyl, may mean that there will be "no healthy people"... MORE

The Council of Baltic Sea Statescompleted a successful meeting in Warsaw May 19, BNS reported the same day,despite Russian foreign minister Andrei Kozyrev's complaint that the Baltic littoralmembers of the European Union were not doing enough to provide investmentsthere. And in another sign of Baltic-Nordic... MORE

There are now more Russian citizens than Estonian citizens in Narva,Estonia's citizenship department chief Andres Kollist told BNS May 19. He saidthat there are now 71,700 citizens of the Russian Federation in Estonia. Thatfigure is up from 50,000 a year ago. Kollist said that this... MORE