A strange alliance of Russian anticommunist nationalists and leftist nationalists will try to torpedo ratification of the Russia-Ukraine interstate treaty in Russia's Federation Council. The Duma ratified the treaty nearly three weeks ago, on December 25, by a margin of 244 to 30, with the... MORE

The North Caucasus has again been hit by a wave of abductions. Valery Fateyev, an aide to Ingush President Ruslan Aushev, was reportedly kidnapped yesterday while traveling with Leche Idigov, Chechnya's representative in Ingushetia, and bodyguards from Nazran, Ingushetia's capital, toward Djohar, the Chechen capital.... MORE

The city of Vladivostok will hold elections on January 17 for its Duma, but not, as originally planned, for its mayor. On January 10 a Vladivostok district court ruled that holding a mayoral election prior to local legislative elections would be illegal. The judges based... MORE

Tokyo has reportedly moved in recent days to calm the diplomatic furor which arose last week following two separate Japanese newspaper reports which focused on the Kuril Islands territorial dispute and Russian-Japanese peace treaty talks. The first report, published on January 6, alleged that Tokyo... MORE

Russia's Foreign Ministry has denounced the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) for seizing eight Yugoslav soldiers on January 8. A January 10 ministry statement demanded that Kosovo Albanian guerrillas "immediately and unconditionally" release all hostages. The statement also described the seizure of the hostages as an... MORE

The Russian government yesterday stepped up its verbal attacks on UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) chief Richard Butler. It also called for a UN investigation into reports that U.S. intelligence agencies had made improper use of the UN weapons inspection operations in Iraq. Russian Foreign Ministry... MORE

Several Russian top politicians and presidential hopefuls reacted yesterday to the Primakov government's draft 1999 budget, which the State Duma approved in the first reading last month. The draft now faces another two readings before it is either passed or rejected in a fourth and... MORE

An Uzbek court has convicted five purported Islamic radicals to prison terms ranging from three to twelve years. The men were found guilty of conspiracy to carry out a coup d'etat and set up an "Islamic state." They were also described by the court as... MORE

On January 8 in Tashkent the prime ministers of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, Utkir Sultonov and Yahio Azimov, signed a package of agreements which cover deliveries of Uzbek natural gas to Tajikistan, a rescheduling of Tajik debts to Uzbekistan and mutual payments for the transit of... MORE

On January 8 Azerbaijani security police suppressed a violent mutiny in a section of the Gobustan detention camp, sixty kilometers south of Baku. At least eleven inmates and two police troopers were killed, with twenty-one inmates and four troopers injured, in the operation to release... MORE