Yesterday was a busy day on the arms control front, as Russia appeared to take some steps toward at last ratifying the START II strategic arms treaty while the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to move forward on the development of a missile defense system. Yesterday's... MORE

The Internal Affairs and National Security ministries and the General Prosecutor's Office have announced the arrest of a criminal group of medium-level state officials, police officers and ordinary gangsters from the cities of Baku, Sumgait, Mingechaur and Evlakh. Members of the group are accused of... MORE

On March 12, by a vote of 11-6, the executive committee of Ukraine's People's Democratic Party (PDP) recommended incumbent Leonid Kuchma as their party candidate for the upcoming October presidential election. Formal nomination will take place during a PDP congress in May. The dissenting votes... MORE

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma was at the receiving end of a sweeping proposal conveyed to him by Belarusan President Alyaksandr Lukashenka on March 13 in Kyiv. Lukashenka seemed to act as a messenger for the Kremlin in delivering a joint Belarusan-Russian offer to establish "an... MORE

In sharp contrast to Moscow (see the Monitor, March 15), official Kyiv draws comfort and a measure of confidence from the fact that its three western neighbors have become full members of NATO. According to a special Foreign Ministry statement, "the Ukrainian government welcomes the... MORE

Presidents Lennart Meri of Estonia, Guntis Ulmanis of Latvia and Valdas Adamkus of Lithuania have each sent messages of congratulations to their Polish, Czech and Hungarian counterparts on the three Central European countries' admission to NATO (see the Monitor, March 12). The Baltic presidents described... MORE

The tardy launch last week of the Admiral Chabanenko, the Northern Fleet's newest warship, is symptomatic of the serious problems facing the Russian Navy (Russian agencies, March 10). Touted as a ship of the 21st century, the Chabanenko is in reality a modification of a... MORE

Federation Council speaker Yegor Stroev yesterday charged that last August's financial collapse was the result of "gross errors" committed by Sergei Kirienko's government and the "criminalization" of the "credit-financial" sphere. A commission set up by the Council to investigate the August meltdown has put the... MORE

Yuri Skuratov, who last month asked to be relieved of his duties as Russia's prosecutor general but showed up again for work last week, is set to appear tomorrow before the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's parliament, to explain his decision to step... MORE

Amid rumors that a cabinet shake-up is imminent, President Boris Yeltsin, who remains in the Central Clinical Hospital recovering from a bleeding ulcer, held a 90-minute meeting with Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov. Following the meeting, the two dismissed speculation that they are in conflict. "They... MORE