Seleznev's parliamentary delegation arrived in Beijing one day after the departure of Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeev. During his own four-day stay in China Sergeev had held intensive talks with Chinese leaders on a number of security and military issues, and particularly on Russian-Chinese military-technical... MORE

Local officials representing inhabitants of the south Kuril Islands--the four Russian islands claimed by Japan--criticized Moscow yesterday for delaying aid sent to the islands by Tokyo. Valentin Smorchkov, identified as the deputy mayor of the South Kuril district, was quoted by a Japanese agency as... MORE

On Sunday (October 24) Duma speaker Gennady Seleznev and a delegation of Russian lawmakers kicked off a six-day visit to China. Seleznev, chairman of the Duma's Communist Party faction, held closed door talks yesterday with Chinese parliamentary leader Li Peng. The two proclaimed themselves satisfied... MORE

Aside from its obvious implications for Russia's domestic political scene, President Boris Yeltsin's last minute cancellation yesterday of a scheduled visit to Austria has also complicated efforts by Russian diplomats on a host of foreign policy issues. Yeltsin had been scheduled to meet in Vienna... MORE

Aleksandr Zhukov, head of the State Duma's budget, tax, banking and finance committee, said Monday (October 26) that it was "unrealistic" to hope that Russia could make the whopping US$17.5 billion payment due next year on its foreign debt. "There is not much of a... MORE

On Monday, the leaders of six center-left parties met in Moscow to sign an agreement on forming a coalition. The effort was led by Andrei Nikolaev, the former head of Russia's borderguards service, who now sits in the State Duma and heads the Union of... MORE

Russian President Boris Yeltsin checked into the Barvikha sanatorium today (October 27). The facility is a well-equipped medical center near Moscow, and the same one where Yeltsin has recovered from past medical problems, including multiple heart bypass surgery in 1996. The president's office attributed the... MORE

Boris Yeltsin's decision to cancel his trip to Vienna for medical reasons has intensified "discussion" about "the health of the president and his competence," as Vladimir Ryzhkov, vice speaker of the State Duma and a member of the "Russia is Our Home" faction, delicately put... MORE

Amid mounting accusations of corruption while in office, the former Ukrainian premier and current leader of the Hromada faction in parliament, Pavlo Lazarenko, has fired back at the authorities in the newspapers controlled by his political allies. In an October 24 interview with parliament newspaper,... MORE

Defense Minister Davit Tevzadze on October 24 dismissed the commander of the western group of forces, Major-General Zaur Uchadze, the head of the armed forces' education directorate, Major-General Davit Sokhadze, and the head of the supply services, Colonel Aleko Gulkaniani, from their posts. The decisions... MORE