Yevgeny Primakov has selected Belarus as the first country he will visit in his new capacity as prime minister of Russia. He was cited as stating that the decision "reflects the two countries' fraternal relations and Union treaty." In a telephone conversation yesterday, Primakov and... MORE

From September 14 through September 22, Ukraine hosted the NATO-sponsored exercise Peace Shield-98 at the Yavoriv training base in Lviv region. This year's exercise involved, for the first time, only staff officers and computers rather than actual troops. Approximately 1,000 officers from sixteen NATO member... MORE

The new Russian government is promising to pay much more attention to the festering problems of the North Caucasus than its predecessor government did. On September 19, Premier Primakov chaired a meeting on ways to resolve the ongoing conflict between Ingush and Ossetians over the... MORE

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, just named to his post on September 11, used an address to the UN General Assembly yesterday to reiterate Moscow's commitment to continued economic reform. Ivanov also promised continuity in the conduct of Russian diplomacy and restated Moscow's broad policy... MORE

First Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Maslyukov yesterday denied that Russia's new government intends to nationalize profitable industrial or financial enterprises. He said the government has no plans for a "massive redistribution of property." However, Maslyukov added, the state might take over responsibility for inefficient or... MORE

Boris Nemtsov, the former first deputy premier once tipped as President Yeltsin's hand-picked successor, has a new job--but an unpaid one. He is to act as President Yeltsin's emissary to the Council on Local Government, a rather lowly post compared to others he has held... MORE

Western diplomats suggested yesterday that Russia might go along with a draft UN resolution which could ultimately open the way for NATO military action in Yugoslavia. The news came as both European and U.S. leaders, in New York for the UN General Assembly, warned Yugoslav... MORE

Boris Fedorov appears to have been squeezed out of Russia's new government. Yesterday a government spokesman announced that his duties had been divided between First Deputy Premier Yuri Maslyukov and Deputy Premier Aleksandr Shokhin. Fedorov, appointed to head the Federal Tax Service last spring and... MORE

On September 16, Standard and Poor's (S&P) lowered its long-term foreign-currency-issuer credit rating for Kazakhstan to B plus from BB minus and its long-term local currency rating from BB plus to BB minus. The agency explained the downgrade by reference to the slowdown in growth... MORE

Kazakhstan's National Security Committee and Internal Affairs Ministry yesterday denied that either of them had arrested Mikhail Vasilichenko, an aide to the declared presidential aspirant Akezhan Kazhegeldyn. According to Kazhegeldyn, the police arrested Vasilichenko in the capital Astana on September 18 and confiscated from him... MORE