Officials in London last week stunned the visiting Lithuanian parliament chairman, Vytautas Landsbergis, by presenting a list of reservations bordering on objections to the Baltic states' admission to NATO. The British officials made it clear that they did not share the objections, but were conveying... MORE

Diplomatic maneuvering intensified this week over the manner in which key international issues are to be dealt with at next week's summit of Group of Seven countries plus Russia in Okinawa, Japan. During preparatory talks in Miyazaki, Japan, on July 12-13, foreign envoys from the... MORE

The Russian Press Freedom Support Group, made up of six Western press freedom advocacy groups, has questioned whether a free press exists in Russia and warned that a Russian government document on "international information security" could erode media freedoms even further. A delegation from the... MORE

Vladimir Gusinsky, head of Media-Most, appears to remain the biggest victim thus far of the state's tightening grip. Jailed briefly after his arrest in May, Gusinsky remains under investigation for allegedly embezzling state funds. And now the authorities are apparently preparing to add new charges... MORE

Yesterday, it was United Energy Systems (UES) chief Anatoly Chubais' turn to get unwanted attention from the authorities. Officials from the Audit Chamber, the independent state agency authorized to monitor the use of federal budget funds, said that an investigation of UES, Russia's electricity monopoly,... MORE

Turkey's new president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, chose Azerbaijan for his first official visit abroad in that capacity in heading a massive Turkish governmental and business delegation to Baku on July 11-12. Sezer's statements during the visit did reaffirmed the Turkish-Azerbaijani "special relationship," built in recent... MORE

Kyrgyzstan's internal affairs minister, Lieutenant-General Omurbek Kutuev, announced on July 10 the arrest of ten "terrorists"--members of the Uighur Liberation Front--in Bishkek. The group includes citizens of China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkey. According to Kutuev, his ministry was forced to move prematurely in arresting... MORE

A long-smoldering conflict within the Russian military high command appears to have come to a head in recent days, and its resolution could force President Vladimir Putin to make some difficult and potentially unpopular decisions regarding military policy and personnel. According to Russian news sources,... MORE

The Russian authorities continued their campaign against the country's "oligarchs" yesterday. In announcing that a criminal case had been launched against the giant AvtoVAZ automaker, Vyacheslav Soltaganov, head of the tax police, also said that another criminal investigation into yet another company would be announced... MORE

Lithuania recorded GDP growth of 4.1 percent in the first quarter of 2000 (Lithuanian Department of Statistics, June 26). Most of the growth can be attributed to growing demand in Russia and Western Europe, and to the high price of oil. The GDP increase was... MORE