Russia's ambassador to Lithuania, Konstantin Mozel, called on President Valdas Adamkus yesterday in an attempt to defuse the current row in bilateral relations between the two countries. The controversy was triggered by the ambassador's demarche to the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry just before Christmas. Mozel expressed... MORE

Russia's ambassador to NATO suggested yesterday that an article published by the "Washington Post" earlier in the day had helped confirm for Russia its dissatisfaction with the performance of United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) chairman Richard Butler. The article said that UN Secretary General Kofi... MORE

Yesterday's report comes as Russian-Japanese talks on a peace treaty--launched last year with much fanfare and some optimism--appear to have become deadlocked over the Kuril Islands territorial issue. Russian officials, who have never suggested that Moscow intended to make concessions to Japan on the islands... MORE

If some in Russia were focused on next year's parliamentary vote, others were looking toward the presidential contest scheduled for 2000. A poll taken December 25-30 by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) among 1,600 Russians on possible presidential candidates found... MORE

The Kuril Islands territorial dispute was back in the headlines yesterday. Both Russian and Japanese officials denied a Japanese newspaper report alleging that Tokyo was preparing a new proposal calling for Moscow to transfer two of the four disputed islands to Japan. The report, published... MORE

More than 100 political parties and movements have registered to participate in Russia's December 1999 parliamentary elections, Justice Minister Pavel Krasheninnikov said yesterday, adding that any of the groups are entitled to form electoral blocs (Russian agencies, January 6). The ministry refused to register several... MORE

Yesterday, Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov stressed the need to impose order and discipline within the government. The theme has been a popular one among top-level government officials--regardless of their ideological complexion--over the last seven years. The prime minister, in a speech to a session of... MORE

Russian President Boris Yeltsin's plenipotentiary for human rights, Oleg Mironov, considers that "the citizen is better protected in Belarus than in Russia." In a radio interview yesterday, Mironov argued that the Belarusan state ensures employment and food supplies for its citizens. "I saw there with... MORE

The AES Corporation of the United States yesterday took over Georgia's Telasi electrical power company and power grid, which supply Tbilisi and the surrounding region with electricity. AES won the Telasi privatization tender last month, agreeing to pay US$25 million for a 75 percent share... MORE

Turkmen President Saparmurat Niazov yesterday dismissed his top aide for military, security and legal affairs--Ata Rahmanov--for "shortcomings in his work." The announcement did not specify the alleged shortcomings. Rahmanov had been appointed to that post as recently as September 1998. He had previously been the... MORE