Acting Procurator General Aleksei Ilyushenko said that the Duma vote refusing to lift deputy Sergei Stankevich's immunity was a "cover up," Vechernyaya Moskva reported May 4. Ilyushenko said he would ask Yeltsin to appeal to the Constitutional Court on this. Stankevich, widely known in the... MORE

Citing "authoritative sources" in the Russian defense ministry, Moldova-Press and Itar-Tass reported May 5 that Lt. Gen. Aleksandr Lebed had resigned from his post as commander of the 14th Russian Army in Moldova's Transdniestr region. But Lebed told Moscow Radio on the same day that... MORE

Even as Moscow presses to join the World Trade Organization, the Russian government has taken new steps to protect domestic production. Not only have tariffs increased, but Moscow has established a new state commission within the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations to block imports from... MORE

In an analysis of investment trends, Novoe vremya(no. 16) noted that foreigners had invested only $1.2 billion in the Russian economy during 1994, far less than had gone to China and a drop in the bucket for a country with 150 million people. Moreover, all... MORE

With these words, Moscow's Finanosvye novosti (no. 31) sharply criticized the failure of the IMF and World Bank to grant Russia's requests for an additional $9 billion loan and the rescheduling of its $130 billion foreign debt. The paper suggested that Western governments and firms... MORE

The Russian foreign ministry will establish a small diplomatic office in Palestine, Moskovsky komsomolets said May 6. Not an embassy--that is not yet allowed under the Israeli-Palestinian accords--the office will have two diplomats and one administratrive officer. The paper said that the office would perform... MORE

By blowing up the Skrunda radar tower on May 5, Latvia had "celebrated" V-E Day in an entirely "pagan" way, Rossiiskiye vesti said May 6. Earlier, on May 4, Moskovskaya Pravda denounced Estonia for failing to allow Russian veterans access to a war memorial now... MORE

A bomb was thrown into a synagogue in Riga's Old Town May 6, Moscow radio reported. There was extensive damage but no injuries have been reported. No one has taken responsibility for this crime, and police are investigating. Lukashenko: Belarus "Ready to Unite" with Russia.

In an address to Russian participants in a V-E Day related conference, Belarusian president Lukashenko said that his country was "ready to unite" with Russia and that "the sooner it is done, the better," Krasnaya zvezda said May 6. On the same day, Rossiikaya gazeta... MORE

The chairman of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly said in Kiev that Ukraine would almost certainly become a member of the Council this fall, Ukrainian radio reported May 7. Ukraine would be the fourth former Soviet republic--the three Baltic countries are already members--to join.... MORE