Russia's worsening domestic political turmoil appeared to spill over more definitively into its diplomatic dealings with the West when, on April 9, Moscow emitted a series of signals suggesting that it would harden its opposition to NATO military strikes on Yugoslavia. Various media quoted President... MORE

The Crimean Tatar community observed a day of mourning yesterday, the anniversary of Empress Catherine II's 1783 manifesto proclaiming the Russian annexation of the Crimean Khanate. Crimean Tatars intend to hold commemorative observances and rallies on this date each year from now on, as they... MORE

Nearly 1,500 delegates, representing Jewish groups throughout Ukraine with a total reported membership of 240,000, held the inaugural congress of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine (UJCU) on April 5-6 in Kyiv. The influential Kyiv businessman Vadym Rabinovych, head of both the Ukrainian-Jewish Congress and... MORE

Krasnoyarsk Governor Aleksandr Lebed has received a helping hand from the federal government. Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Kolesnikov--who heads a commission which has been investigating various Krasnoyarsk companies over the last two months--announced yesterday that prosecutors have launched criminal proceedings against Anatoly Bykov, head of... MORE

A briefcase with secret documents was stolen yesterday during pre-dawn hours from the car of a counterintelligence officer of Latvia's Defense Ministry. Some of the documents were then found scattered outside a nightclub. The officer, identified as Voldemars Pavlovskis, was immediately suspended from duty for... MORE

The Kremlin--according to one theory--is seriously considering appointing Viktor Chernomyrdin as a deputy prime minister. In this scenario, Yeltsin would bring Chernomyrdin, who met with Yeltsin yesterday, into the cabinet and then use a legal loophole which allows the president, after firing a prime minister,... MORE

Political tensions are clearly increasing with the approach of April 15, the day the State Duma will decide whether to launch impeachment proceedings against President Boris Yeltsin. Most of Russia's main newspapers ran articles reporting that the Kremlin was preparing a series of responses to... MORE

Enduring deep divisions among the five permanent UN Security Council members were reportedly highlighted yesterday during a meeting devoted to UN disarmament and sanctions policy toward Baghdad. The council's efforts in that regard have been hamstrung since last December's U.S. and British air attacks on... MORE

Russia continued to talk yesterday of pushing a new diplomatic initiative aimed at ending the fighting in Yugoslavia. But beyond calling yet again for a meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G-7) leading industrial nations, Russian officials provided little information as to... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin warned NATO today not to send ground troops into Yugoslavia and "make it their protectorate." "We cannot permit that," he said. He threatened that such a development could prompt a stronger response from Russia, without specifying what action Russia might take. NATO... MORE