In a series of statements--heard most likely with some relief in Washington and elsewhere--newly named Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov told lawmakers on September 11 that he would not take Russia back on the path toward "confrontation" with the West. The former Russian foreign minister,... MORE

Primakov told NTV last night that the provisional agreement reached last month on redistributing powers between the president and parliament should be formally signed. "I am in favor of this agreement," Primakov declared. "It can be updated and amended if necessary, but it should be... MORE

Russia's new Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov last night denied that his government would return Russia to communism. He told a TV interviewer he would not abandon market reforms but said that there must be "corrections" to previous policies to overcome the "awful divide" in society... MORE

Deputy Foreign Minister Erlan Abdyldaev yesterday almost revoked the previous day's hint that Kyrgyzstan might establish relations with Afghanistan's Taliban authorities in Kabul. "Official recognition was not and is not on the agenda," Abdyldaev stated in response to media queries. While denying the prospect of... MORE

The Verkhovna Rada's leftist deputies yesterday blocked President Leonid Kuchma's nomination of Oleksandr Bondar to the post of chairman of the State Property Fund (SPF). That key agency administers state enterprises slated for privatization and handles the privatization process. In opposing the nomination, communist representatives... MORE

A Ukrainian Zenith-2 rocket carrying twelve commercial satellites crashed yesterday in southern Siberia, five minutes after launch from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The launch was the first in a series of three. It represents a joint Russian-Ukrainian contribution to the Globalstar consortium's program to put thirty-six commercial... MORE

The Manila-based Asian Development Bank yesterday announced its approval of a US$50 million loan to Kyrgyzstan for modernization of the Osh-Bishkek highway. Running south-north through four out of Kyrgyzstan's six regions, the Osh-Bishkek highway is critical to that country, and is also considered by Kazakhstan... MORE

Latvian Foreign Minister Valdis Birkavs worried aloud yesterday that with Primakov at the head of Russia's government, "Russian-Latvian relations will not improve. On the contrary, chances grow that Russia will take steps against Latvia." Estonia's former Foreign Minister Siim Kallas, citing his own experience of... MORE

Senior presidential aide Ivan Pashkevich stated yesterday that "the Belarusan leadership is pleased" by the nomination of Yevgeny Primakov as prime minister of Russia. "Primakov enjoys a well-deserved authority here because of his important contribution to Russia-Belarus integration and to building the Russia-Belarus Union," Pashkevich... MORE

A 19-year-old conscript sailor has shot dead eight of his fellow-crewmen and barricaded himself inside a compartment in a nuclear submarine docked in Russia's Arctic seaport, Murmansk. This is the latest in a series of recent fatalities in Russia's underfunded armed forces. Mercifully, the submarine... MORE