Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov has been suffering from severe back problems. He missed a meeting yesterday with World Bank President James Wolfensohn--leaving First Deputy Prime Minister to attend in his place--but later did meet with Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman. Primakov's pain was so... MORE

There were signs today that Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, who is under growing criticism and overall pressure from President Boris Yeltsin, may be preparing to sacrifice one or more of his controversial leftist deputies. Primakov, who has been suffering from severe back pain and has... MORE

In his first full day as Moscow's pointman for diplomatic dealings related to the Kosovo crisis, former Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin said yesterday that he supports a new German initiative aimed at promoting a Kosovo peace settlement. The German proposal, unveiled during an EU summit... MORE

Yesterday, Russian political leaders, who for months have whitewashed Serb atrocities in Kosovo, leapt to excoriate NATO for its accidental bombing on Wednesday (April 14) of a convoy bringing ethnic Albanian refugees back to the war-torn province. A Russian Foreign Ministry statement expressed Moscow's "utmost... MORE

At least two Armenian civilians were killed and seven others wounded during a shootout yesterday among Russian border troops in the Armenian town of Gyumri. The incident occurred when an ad-hoc posse of Russian soldiers was sent out to apprehend two Russian conscript soldiers who... MORE

As anticipated, Belarusan President Alyaksandr Lukashenka did nothing during his visit to Belgrade yesterday to encourage Yugoslavia's accession to the Russia-Belarus Union, a development which would conflict with both his agenda and the interests of his regime (see the Monitor, April 13). Lukashenka merely accepted... MORE

The destiny of former Ukrainian Premier Pavlo Lazarenko--who is both seeking asylum in the United States and wanted in Ukraine on embezzlement charges--remains unclear after the immigration court in San Francisco on April 13 postponed his case until May. In March the New York immigration... MORE

Presidents Valdas Adamkus of Lithuania and Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland, accompanied by massive civilian and military delegations, witnessed yesterday the inaugural ceremony of the Lithuanian-Polish joint battalion, LitPolBat. The two countries' defense ministers, Ceslovas Stankevicius and Janusz Onyszkiewicz, signed the relevant intergovernmental agreement the same... MORE

Belarusan President Alyaksandr Lukashenka yesterday paid a one-day "working visit" to Belgrade for the stated purpose of discussing a "peace initiative" with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Lukashenka anticipated that Milosevic, his "good friend, would listen more carefully to the [him] than to anyone else." It... MORE

Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has canceled its arrest warrant for Boris Berezovsky. The official who issued the warrant last week, Deputy Prosecutor General Mikhail Katyshev, said yesterday that he had made the decision after Berezovsky said in a interview this past weekend that he would... MORE