Addressing the parliament yesterday, Estonian President Lennart Meri urged that Estonia join the Nordic countries in programs of humanitarian assistance to Russia; and also that Estonian aid--"according to possibilities"--be sent directly to the nearby Russian regions Leningrad, Pskov and Novgorod. Meri described Russia's crisis as... MORE

Lithuania's offer to aid the nearby Kaliningrad region followed the Russian Baltic Fleet command's announcement that it has food reserves for only forty days, and no funds to feed the troops afterward (see the Monitor, September 8 and 9). A large part of that fleet--and... MORE

The President on Ingushetia, Ruslan Aushev, said yesterday that war between his republic and its North Caucasus neighbor, North Ossetia, had been "only five minutes away" on the night of Saturday, September 12. Five policemen guarding a joint Ossetian-Ingush checkpoint and one attacker were killed... MORE

Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura has proposed to his newly named Russian counterpart, Igor Ivanov, that the two hold talks during the UN General Assembly session scheduled for later this month in New York. The message from Komura came in a letter congratulating Ivanov for... MORE

Top Foreign and Finance Ministry officials were close-mouthed yesterday following a one-day G-7 meeting in London that focused on Russia's economic and political crisis. A British official, who briefed reporters afterwards, said that two representatives of the Russian government had briefed the session and assured... MORE

Primakov told the cabinet yesterday that he intends to get tough with regional governors who pursue policies that are out of line with their statutory powers. Governors who violate the constitution will be suspended regardless of whether or not they were elected, the prime minister... MORE

Russia's armed forces--already troubled by falling budgets, readiness and morale, continued violence in the barracks, and a host of related maladies--may now be facing a new humiliation: an increasing inability to feed the troops. According to government officials, budgetary shortfalls have left the army unable... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin met this morning with Yevgeny Primakov for the first time since Primakov was appointed prime minister. Primakov reportedly told the president--who is seen in Moscow increasingly rarely--about the difficulties he is having putting together a cabinet with representatives of both wings of... MORE

Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov chaired his first cabinet meeting yesterday, one lasting only twenty minutes. The full composition of the government will not be announced before the end of the week. Paying wage and pension arrears, Primakov said, would be the government's first priority. He... MORE

By the end of last week, Kazakhstan's tenge appeared to have stabilized after the population rushed to buy up dollars over the weekend of September 5-8 (Russian agencies, September 8). In reaction to TV news of the Russian crisis, the population's dumping of the tenge... MORE