At least three Russian soldiers were killed and ten were wounded in two separate incidents in Abkhazia yesterday. Mines had been laid in the path of their vehicles in both cases. The commander of Russian troops in Abkhazia, Major-General Sergey Korobko, charged that Georgian guerrillas... MORE

Presidents Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine and Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland met in Crimea on September 27-28 for a "no-necktie" summit, their fifth in the last twelve months. The presidents cited the frequency of their meetings as evidence that the Ukrainian-Polish "strategic partnership" constitutes a "palpable... MORE

Russian and Ukrainian working groups conferred in Sevastopol yesterday on issues left unresolved by last year's agreements on the division of the Black Sea Fleet. The meeting registered continued disagreement on most of those issues. Russia wants to share jurisdiction with Ukraine over a number... MORE

Vilnius, Riga and other Baltic cities have received appeals for humanitarian relief in the framework of the Baltic Cities' Union (BCU) from Russia's Kaliningrad region cities of Kaliningrad and Baltiisk. Baltiisk's plea is highly significant: That city (Pillau before the Soviet occupation) is the main... MORE

American satellites last week detected some construction work at the Novaya Zemlya nuclear test site, prompting some to speculate that Russia--which has signed the Comprehensive Test Ban (CTB) treaty--might be preparing to resume nuclear testing. Such charges prompted a speedy Russian denial. First Deputy Atomic... MORE

According to maverick Chechen warlord Salman Raduev, the kidnappers of President Yeltsin's envoy to Chechnya would be willing to release him without a ransom in exchange for Doku Zavgaev. Zavgaev headed Chechnya's pro-Moscow puppet government during the 1994-96 war (Russian agencies, September 28). It is... MORE

In a move aimed at easing mounting disgruntlement among Russian servicemen, the government announced yesterday that it had paid out millions of rubles in order to clear up wage and payment arrears to the armed forces. News sources said that Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov had... MORE

Russia's Foreign Ministry yesterday attempted to play down the significance of Social Democrat Gerhard Schroeder's victory in Germany's general election this past weekend. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Vladimir Rakhmanin said that Moscow hopes Schroeder's new government "will promote the continued strengthening of relations of mutual... MORE

Several speakers at a September 19 conference on economic crime in Cambridge, England, argued that, while economic crime is a major problem for Russia's fledgling market economy. the extent of the phenomenon has been inflated by the mass media. The conference was attended by a... MORE

Efforts continued yesterday to fill the gaps in the Russian cabinet. President Boris Yeltsin fired the reform-oriented Boris Fedorov as deputy prime minister and head of the Federal Tax Service. Fedorov said he had twice offered to resign out of disgust since his appointment last... MORE