Moscow has denied a statement by the Turkish government alleging that Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan flew on January 16 from Rome to Russia. Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit made the charge following a meeting in Ankara yesterday with the Russian ambassador, Aleksandr Lebedev. According... MORE

The Jamestown Foundation's latest reports and analyses on trends in Latvia have drawn comment from Latvian political leaders [see note]. The discussion is part of an internal political furor triggered by a fabricated interview with NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana. In the "interview" Solana made unfriendly... MORE

Even as Belgrade's defiance of the international community mounted yesterday, Russia's Foreign Ministry continued its efforts to deflect criticism of the Yugoslav authorities. Prior to yesterday's Security Council meeting Moscow did join with other countries in calling for an investigation into the massacre at Racak.... MORE

The State Duma is set today to take the second of four expected votes on the Primakov government's draft 1999 budget. First Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Maslyukov, Finance Minister Mikhail Zadornov and Economics Minister Andrei Shapovalyants are expected to take part in today's debate in... MORE

Russia joined with other UN Security Council members yesterday in approving a statement which both condemned the recent massacre of forty-five ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and called for an immediate and full investigation of the tragedy. The council statement also urged the Yugoslav government to... MORE

The equanimity, however, was not universal. Grigory Yavlinsky, head of Yabloko, called on Primakov to address the nation and explain Yeltsin's health situation. Yavlinsky said there was "indirect" evidence that "the situation with the health of the president is more serious than usual, which arouses... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin, who was hospitalized on January 17 with an acute bleeding stomach ulcer, was reported to be in "stable" condition yesterday. Sergei Mironov, the Kremlin's chief doctor, said that the internal bleeding had stopped, and that it was possible Yeltsin's condition could be... MORE

Azerbaijani President Haidar Aliev, 75, was flown yesterday from Baku to Ankara for emergency treatment at the army's medical academy clinic there. Two medical teams, sent by Turkish President Suleyman Demirel, examined Aliev in Baku and accompanied him aboard a specially equipped medical plane to... MORE

On January 15 in Carpathian Ukraine's administrative center Uzhhorod, Defense Ministers Oleksandr Kuzmuk of Ukraine, Janos Szabo of Hungary and Victor Babiuc of Romania signed an agreement to create a joint battalion of the three countries. The unit, to consist mainly of sappers, will train... MORE

In a soft replay of another historic territorial dispute in this region, the Russian and Romanian Orthodox Churches are negotiating the fate of Moldova's Orthodox Church. The two claimant churches are treating Moldova's more or less as Russia and Romania historically treated Moldova itself--namely, as... MORE