Over the weekend, the Russia-Belarus scenario appeared to be mired in disagreement. On Friday (July 2), Belarus President Alyaksandr Lukashenka gave a speech in Minsk to a meeting of the parliamentary assembly of the Russia-Belarus union, in which he lashed out at Moscow, saying that... MORE

Unconverted Cold Warriors on both sides must have been overcome with nostalgia over the last few days. It has been just like the bad old days, with Russian nuclear-capable strategic bombers probing NATO air defenses around Iceland and Norway, NATO reconnaissance planes and ships trailing... MORE

If NATO leaders were looking for additional reasons last week to be suspicious of Russian motives in Kosovo, a commentary published by "Moskovsky komsomolets" on July 2 might have given them a few. Quoting Defense Ministry sources, it repeated widespread suspicions that the June 12... MORE

Russia and NATO reportedly reached agreement yesterday on the conditions under which Russian troops are to serve in the NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo. But the deal, hammered out in Moscow, came only after another sharp confrontation between the two sides. In a move... MORE

In an interview published today, President Boris Yeltsin insisted that he will democratically transfer power to a new administration and leave office after the June 2000 presidential election. In the interview, which appeared as the lead article in "Izvestia," Yeltsin, asked if he plans to... MORE

Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin gave an upbeat assessment of Russia's economic future in a July 3 speech to the Federation Council, the upper chamber of parliament. The premier said that government revenues were increasing, that the International Monetary Fund would agree to grant Russia a... MORE

The Supreme Court of Uzbekistan on June 28 handed down sentences in the trial of twenty-two Islamic militants whom it found guilty of involvement in the February 16 bomb attacks in Tashkent and other crimes. The blasts killed sixteen bystanders and wrecked government buildings, narrowly... MORE

Lithuania's new prime minister, Rolandas Paksas, paid on June 29 a landmark visit to Moscow, the first by a Lithuanian head of government in four-and-a-half years and the first ever by a Conservative Lithuanian premier. Still more significant, the Russian side--departing from entrenched habit--did not... MORE

Herbert Gregg, an American missionary, was freed this week after seven months of captivity in Chechnya. Gregg, who was kidnapped in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala last November, was met on June 29 at Moscow's Sheremetevo Airport by Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo, U.S. Ambassador... MORE

Kommersant," perhaps Russia's most influential newspaper covering business and politics, has reportedly been bought out by tycoon and Kremlin insider Boris Berezovsky--or is on the verge of being bought out by him. On June 30, a competing newspaper reported the sale as a done deal:... MORE