Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeev told reporters yesterday that Moscow is prepared not only to deliver S-300 air defense complexes to Cyprus, but also to install and help to operate them. The remarks came in the midst of a five-day official visit to Greece by... MORE

Russia's Foreign and Defense Ministries yesterday denied a report alleging that Moscow has supplied the Serbian military with advanced missile technology. The Times of London said that the Serbs had received new warheads, fuses and sensors that would improve the performance of their Soviet era... MORE

Yuri Luzhkov, who is gaining a reputation as Yeltsin's most likely successor, has never been a favorite with the oligarchs, and has given them further reason to have sleepless nights. On October 8, the Moscow mayor gave what he tactfully called his "recommendations" to the... MORE

Moscow continued yesterday to lobby hard against any NATO military intervention in Yugoslavia. Russian President Boris Yeltsin restated Moscow's views in a telephone conversation with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, arguing that the use of force by NATO would "be disastrous for international peace." The... MORE

It is by now clear that Russia's "oligarchs"--a term generally referring to a small group of politically-connected bankers who became industrial magnates thanks to the country's controversial privatization program--have been hit hard by the economic crisis. According to a study made by analysts of the... MORE

Russia's national day of protest, Wednesday, passed peacefully, with protesters in some seventy-eight of Russia's eighty-nine regions demanding payment of wage and pension arrears and the resignation of President Boris Yeltsin. The turnout was considerably lower than organizers had predicted. Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov... MORE

Japanese architect Kisei Kurokawa has won the international competition for designing a general plan to modernize Kazakhstan's new capital, Astana. Announcing the winner yesterday, President Nursultan Nazarbaev commented that the Japanese architect's plan successfully embodied "a symbiosis of Asian and European cultures." It edged out... MORE

The chief delegates of the GUAM countries--Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova--conferred yesterday at the Ukrainian embassy in Washington during the annual meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Georgian Minister of State (equivalent of prime minister) Vazha Lortkipanidze, Ukrainian Prime Minister Valery... MORE

Belarusan President Alyaksandr Lukashenka yesterday offered to deliver to Yugoslavia "weapons and military equipment in order to repel a possible intervention by NATO." His offer is "unconditional" and reflects a readiness to "support our Slavic brothers in every respect," Lukashenka told a news conference. He... MORE

On Saturday in Derbent, during the celebration of City Day, a demonstration organized by Mugudin Kakhrimanov--leader of the radical wing of the Lezgin national movement "Sadval"--took place. A resolution was read which accused the Dagestani authorities of insufficiently financing southern Dagestan and insulting its people... MORE