The Kremlin's special Balkans envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin's recent visit to Belgrade will also undoubtedly be on the agenda during today's Russian-U.S. talks in Moscow. Chernomyrdin's apparent inability to win any key concessions from Milosevic--particularly with regard to the deployment of a NATO-led peacekeeping contingent in... MORE

A NATO plan to impose an oil embargo on Yugoslavia was probably one of the main topics of discussion in Moscow today during talks between Russian leaders and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott. Talbott, dispatched to Russia yesterday, was expected also to discuss... MORE

April 24 was an active day across Russia for the country's various electoral blocs. Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov presided over a congress of his movement Fatherland (Otechestvo) in the city of Yaroslavl. Following the congress, Luzhkov told reporters that his movement would work to ensure... MORE

On April 23, the political council of Ukraine's People's Democratic Party (NDP) voted--as expected--to recommend that the party congress in May back President Leonid Kuchma in the presidential elections in October. This decision was supported by seventy-five out of the 100 members of the council,... MORE

The Kremlin devoted part of its energy over the weekend to limiting the damage it suffered last week when the Federation Council voted to reject the resignation of Yuri Skuratov, whom President Boris Yeltsin suspended as prosecutor general earlier this month. Speaking to reporters on... MORE

President Leonid Kuchma and his team--proven supporters of cooperation with NATO--attended the Washington summit despite heavy political pressure from leftist forces at home. The approaching presidential election compels Kuchma to take that factor into account and attempt an unprecedented balancing act in foreign policy. Kuchma's... MORE

s 50th anniversary summit, held on April 23-24 in Washington, met half-way the Baltic states' goal to elicit a specific commitment and timetable regarding their admission to the alliance. The summit decided to place the Baltic states behind Romania and Slovenia in a queue of... MORE

The enduring differences between Moscow and NATO were highlighted over the weekend by the reaction of alliance leaders' to former Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin's April 24 peace mission to Belgrade. Alliance members had expressed some cautious interest in the immediate aftermath of Chernomyrdin's talks... MORE

Although not represented physically, Russia remained very much a presence during the three days of discussions and ceremonies which constituted this past weekend's historic NATO summit meeting in Washington. The hopes of alliance leaders to maintain friendly relations with Moscow both generally and, more specifically,... MORE

For the first time since the February 16 bomb attacks in the Uzbek capital, President Islam Karimov has mentioned a second possible force behind them. Until now, the president had only named radical Islamic groups and some political exiles as the suspects. But in his... MORE