The Western Ukrainian daily Za Vilnu Ukainu charged that Russia's Federal Security Service is planning to send commandos into the disputed Crimea, Vechernyaya moskva reported April 26. The paper cited a report from an unnamed FSS officer taken prisoner in Chechnya. The paper said he... MORE

During a visit to Beirut, Armenian Prime Minister Grant Bagratian signed a series of trade and investment agreements with the Lebanese government, Armen press reported May 2. Just as in Syria the day before, Yerevan actively exploited the large Armenian diaspora community there. Recent estimates... MORE

For the first time, Turkmenistan has sent its oil to Europe by water, Nefte Compass reported April 27. The ship carrying the oil crossed the Caspian to the Russian port of Astrakhan; passed through the Volga-Don canal system, and delivered the cargo to Romania. While... MORE

Some of England's most elite public (that is, private) preparatory schools are actively recruiting students among Russia's new capitalist class, the Times of London reported last Sunday. While many of the students are doing well, some in England see this rapid influx as leading to... MORE

Destroying Yeltsin's pre-summit cease-fire and undermining Moscow's claim that Chechnya had been largely pacified, "heavy battles" took place between several thousand Chechen fighters and the Russian army in Grozny itself as well as outlying areas, Interfax said May 2. Russian forces have reported significant casualties... MORE

A day after German officials had sharply criticized Moscow's behavior in Chechnya, French foreign minister Alain Juppe said on French television May 1 that Moscow's failure to have a real moratorium on the fighting in Chechnya "during the time of the festivities" merits a "reaction"... MORE

In sharp contrast to Soviet times, fewer than 20,000 people took part in unofficial May Day celebrations in Moscow, Interfax said. Led by diehard communists, the demonstrators carried signs calling for the restoration of the Soviet Union and for a war on crime and corruption.... MORE

Former acting premier Yegor Gaidar told the April 11 Kievskie vedomosti that "the crisis in Chechnya has inflicted serious damage to the national economy." But Russian finance minister Panskov told Vek (no. 17), that the war and rebuilding after it would not affect either the... MORE

Ethnographer Valery Tishkov, who served as Yeltsin's nationalities minister in 1992, urged Yeltsin to pick up the phone and speak with Chechen leader Dzhokhar Dudayev, Novoye vremya (no. 15), reported. Unless the conflict is ended soon, new interethnic conflicts are likely to arise; and while... MORE

Setting the stage for his upcoming meeting with President Clinton, Boris Yeltsin signed three decrees last week easing restrictions on US banks operating in Russia, Segodnya and Kommersant-Daily reported April 28. These technical changes will give the larger American banks both greater access to Russian... MORE