The German industrial giant Siemens is back in Azerbaijan after some eighty years of forced absence. Siemens--along with such firms as Rothschild, Nobel and Rockefeller--had pioneered the mineral development boom in Azerbaijan at the turn of the last century, before Soviet Russia had isolated Azerbaijan... MORE

President Leonid Kuchma announced yesterday a hitherto unreported--or perhaps unnoticed--result of his September 18-19 meeting with Russian President Boris Yeltsin (see the Monitor, September 21). According to Kuchma, the Russian side will accept US$1 billion worth of Ukrainian goods, primarily food, in payment for past... MORE

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma said during his meeting with editors of regional mass media that in the last seven years Ukraine has never been so close to a financial catastrophe, calling the situation "very dangerous." Kuchma pointed out, however, that he is keeping the economic... MORE

Visiting an air defense unit and research center yesterday, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka disclosed plans to spend scarce funds in order to modernize the ground-to-air missile arsenal in Belarus. Portraying this effort as a service to Russia, Lukashenka publicly appealed to Russian scientists to participate in... MORE

The legislature in the Republic of Karachaevo-Cherkessia passed a law on September 22 which will enable the population of the North Caucasus republic to elect its chief executive for the first time. An election is likely to take place next April. Alone among Russia's republics... MORE

On September 22, the authorities in Chechnya announced completion of the Chechen portion of the highway linking Chechnya with Georgia (NTV, September 22). The local media call the highway "the road of life" because it connects Chechnya to the outside world. In the opinion of... MORE

Latvian Parliament Chairman Alfreds Cepanis and a parliamentary delegation arrived in Belarus yesterday on an official visit. The illegitimate Belarusan parliament, appointed by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and therefore under international quarantine, had invited the Cepanis group. The visiting group also includes the mayors of Ventspils... MORE

A Russian parliamentary delegation under the leadership of Duma speaker Gennady Seleznev wound up a three-day official visit to Iran yesterday that included talks with top Iranian political figures. In remarks prior to the delegation's departure for Russia, Seleznev yesterday hailed friendly relations between Moscow... MORE

The Moscow Helsinki group has sent a letter to the Russian government expressing "grave concern" about the observance of religious freedom and other fundamental human rights in Russia (Russian agencies, September 23). As an example, it cites attempts to close the Moscow community of Jehovah's... MORE

A diplomatic scandal between Russia and Finland appeared to be brewing yesterday following reports that two Russian diplomats had been expelled from Finland--one this summer and one sometime last year--for alleged espionage activities. Finnish newspapers reportedly said that the two Russian diplomats had been declared... MORE