s historic peace mission in Kosovo got off to a tumultuous start this weekend when some 200 Russian troops unexpectedly raced into the war-torn province ahead of the alliance's peacekeeping forces. The move by the Russian paratroopers, who have based themselves at the airport in... MORE

Azerbaijani President Haidar Aliev returned home on June 9 after a seven-week absence. Aliev had left on April 21 for the NATO summit in Washington, underwent open-heart surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in the United States on April 29, convalesced there until May 10 and... MORE

The absence of clear and reliable information about President Haidar Aliev's medical condition and his avoidance of the limelight have triggered a fresh round of political speculation in Baku. Scenarios for the near term no longer assume a presidential vacancy and the necessary election of... MORE

The presidential campaign in Ukraine--with elections scheduled for October 31--has entered a decisive stage. Each runner must collect a million signatures to be officially registered as a nominee in the elections. Success depends on having the backing of parties with well-established regional networks. The signatures,... MORE

A well-publicized interparliamentary conference on the "integration" of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus opened yesterday in Kyiv. Russian Duma Chairman Gennady Seleznev and Federation Council Chairman Yegor Stroev, Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Chairman Oleksandr Tkachenko, Belarusan House of Representatives Chairman Anatoly Malafeev and Council of the Republic... MORE

The Lithuanian parliament yesterday approved by an overwhelming margin the composition and program of the new government. The vote puts an end to a prolonged government crisis caused by former prime minister Gediminas Vagnorius' personal conflict with President Valdas Adamkus, which led to Vagnorius' resignation... MORE

Yuri Luzhkov has stepped up his attack--or, as he would see it, his counterattack--against the Kremlin. Yesterday, the Moscow mayor--a leading contender for the presidency in the scheduled June 2000 election--charged again that President Boris Yeltsin's inner circle regards him as "enemy No. 1" and... MORE

The tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who earlier this year was the target of a criminal investigation and even an arrest warrant, has not only restored his role as a major Kremlin insider, but has also strengthened his position in the Russian media. Yesterday, Eduard Sagalaev, head... MORE

While yesterday's successes were considerable, the full implementation of the Kosovo peace settlement is likely to be fraught with difficulties. One of those was on display yesterday in Moscow, as Russian and U.S. military officials failed after a day of negotiations to reach a compromise... MORE

The first stage of a finely choreographed Kosovo peace settlement plan, hammered out in recent days during arduous talks between Western and Russian officials, began to unfold smoothly yesterday. As had been hoped in the wake of the June 9 withdrawal agreement between NATO and... MORE