One of the key goals of Western leaders in drafting yesterday's joint statement with Russia was to get Moscow on board diplomatic efforts to end the conflict with Yugoslavia on NATO's terms. Another key goal, however, appears to have been to produce a document which... MORE

As expected, foreign ministers from Russia and the Group of Seven countries reached agreement in Germany yesterday on a statement aimed at furthering diplomatic efforts to end the conflict in Kosovo. The joint statement was applauded by Western leaders as proof that Moscow had moved... MORE

The command of Tajikistan's border troops announced on May 4 that more than 1,000 experienced fighters of the opposition forces have recently been incorporated into the government's border troops. This development represents the first real breakthrough toward "integration" of opposition forces into the government's military... MORE

Kyrgyzstan's National Security and Internal Affairs Ministries announced yesterday the arrest of a "terrorist group" and seizure of a "large amount" of weapons, ammunition, explosives and narcotics. The twelve men under arrest are mostly residents of the Osh and Jalalabad regions. The authorities suspect them... MORE

Iran's embassy in Baku issued a statement yesterday--one first aired on May 1 by the Foreign Ministry in Tehran--sharply challenging the legal validity of the multibillion oil contracts just signed by Azerbaijan with the Exxon and Mobil companies of the United States (see the Monitor,... MORE

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma was "astonished" at being included on the list of the greatest "enemies of the press," made public by the U.S. Committee to Protect Journalists. Oleksandr Martynenko, Kuchma's spokesman, told this to journalists yesterday, adding that Kuchma may sue the committee if... MORE

Yesterday, in the village of Moskovsky in Karachaevo-Cherkessia, a Molotov cocktail was hurled at the electoral headquarters of Stanislav Derev, one of the candidates running to become the republic's head. Over the May 1 holiday weekend, eight terrorist acts were carried out against Derev's various... MORE

Amidst press rumors that Boris Yeltsin had decided to adopt a softer line vis-a-vis Yevgeny Primakov and his cabinet, the Russian president put on one of his classic performances yesterday--one which suggested he has not softened his line at all. Yeltsin presided over a meeting... MORE

Gennady Zyuganov--leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF)--defended the Primakov government yesterday as "the first coalition government of the last eight years" and warning that if Yeltsin dismisses the cabinet, "it will be the president's last exercise" (Russian agencies, May 5). Vladimir... MORE

News reports yesterday and today suggested that Russia and the West have already worked out their positions on many of the key issues to be discussed at today's Group of Seven meeting. Evidence of this was the announcement that the meeting would produce a statement... MORE