Moldovan officials told the Monitor yesterday that Russia's Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov has withdrawn his earlier consent to the holding of a summit in Kyiv on settling the Transdniester conflict. Scheduled tentatively for November 27-28, the meeting was to have brought together Primakov (representing Russian... MORE

A congress of the Lezgin movement "Sadval" (Unity) took place this week in the southern Dagestan city of Derbent. Delegates discussed the economic and social problems of southern Dagestan, which is the republic's least-developed region economically. The assembled delegates did not, as they have done... MORE

The deputy president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, wound up a three-day visit to Russia yesterday which resulted in the signing of several intergovernmental agreements and expressions of satisfaction from both sides. The most noteworthy event of the visit, however, was the announcement that South... MORE

Russia's Foreign Ministry yesterday criticized Britain--and by extension the United States--for "issuing calls for a change of the Iraqi regime using force." The admonitions from Moscow came during a press briefing by Foreign Ministry spokesman Vladimir Rakhmanin. The Russian spokesman also spoke of the need... MORE

In a move that will do little to improve relations between Washington and Moscow, Russia's Atomic Energy Minister yesterday announced the signing of a new nuclear energy cooperation agreement with Iran. The accord--a memorandum of understanding--came at the end of a four-day visit to Iran... MORE

A delegation from the IMF left Moscow on Tuesday (November 24), reportedly very unsatisfied with the "anticrisis" economic measures which the government of Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov is carrying out. Deputy Finance Minister Oleg Vyugin said Tuesday that the talks between the government and the... MORE

State Duma deputy and veteran pro-democracy activist Galina Starovoitova was buried on Tuesday at St. Petersburg's Aleksandr Nevsky Lavra monastery, in the same cemetery where Fyodor Dostoevsky, Pyotr Tchaikovsky and other luminaries of Russian history are buried. The burial ceremony was delayed by several hours... MORE

Three Abkhaz troopers, captured by Georgian guerrillas on November 22, turned out to be Russian Cossacks serving "on contract" with the Abkhaz forces. Abkhazia yesterday confirmed this fact and the names of the troopers. It considers them victims of "kidnapping" and seeks to achieve their... MORE

More than twenty journalists of as many opposition newspapers are conducting a hunger strike in Baku to protest what they describe as an official crackdown on the independent press. The journalists regard recent libel suits against their newspapers as an attempt by the authorities to... MORE

Yevhen Kushnaryov has resigned as head of President Kuchma's administration following his election as first deputy head of the People's Democratic Party [NDP] (on the congress, see yesterday's Monitor). Kushnaryov, who headed Kuchma's administration since December 1996, explained his decision by his plans to engage... MORE