Russia's Itar-Tass news agency reported yesterday that North Korea intends to conduct a second ballistic missile test sometime tomorrow. Itar-Tass attributed news of the alleged upcoming test to unnamed diplomatic sources in Moscow, but it provided no details. The Russian news agency is one of... MORE

President Yeltsin yesterday postponed his visit to Kazakhstan, originally scheduled for September 8-9, until October 12-13. Yeltsin told Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbaev that the political situation in Russia ruled out a visit at the present time. (Russian agencies, September 7) INTERIOR MINISTRY DENIES ALERTING TROOPS.

Russia's Interior Ministry yesterday denied media reports that its troops had been placed on high alert in connection with Russia's financial crisis. Troops are on high alert only in Dagestan, the Ministry said, "in light of the recent events there." (Itar-Tass, September 7) Eighteen people... MORE

Echoing admonitions voiced by U.S. President Bill Clinton during his recent summit talks in Moscow, Foreign ministers from the fifteen European Union member countries yesterday called on President Boris Yeltsin to form a new government and to get on with economic reforms as soon as... MORE

Viktor Chernomyrdin got a boost at the end of last week when regional leaders in the upper house of the Russian parliament voiced support for his candidacy. There is also, however, growing support among regional leaders for the candidacy for Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. Some... MORE

Sergei Dubinin yesterday resigned as chairman of Russia's Central Bank. (RTR, September 7) Dubinin--a strong monetarist, doggedly opposed to printing money to cover the fiscal deficit--has been blamed for exacerbating the financial crisis by refusing to devalue the ruble long after devaluation had become inevitable.... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin meets with his advisers in the Kremlin this morning to decide whether to risk a showdown with the opposition-dominated Duma by nominating Viktor Chernomyrdin as prime minister for a third time. (BBC, September 8) Yesterday, the Russian parliament rejected Chernomyrdin for the... MORE

Selected units of the Russian army's 201st division and the Tajik army's 1st motorized brigade held a joint combat exercise yesterday on the Tajik-Afghan border. Tajik President Imomali Rahmonov and Russian ambassador Yevgeny Belov watched the exercise, which was commanded jointly by Lieutenant-General Nikolay Pugachev... MORE

The likeness of General Aleksandr Suvorov, the Tsarist-era military commander lionized in both the USSR and post-Soviet Russia, disappeared yesterday from the Belarusan city of Vitsyabsk [Vitebsk]. An unidentified group left a note at the empty site, recalling that Suvorov "drenched in blood the Belarusan... MORE

On an official visit to Ukraine from September 2-4, President Jacques Chirac announced that France "understood how important Ukraine is to Europe" and supported President Leonid Kuchma's "bold steps" in initiating economic reforms. Chirac also endorsed Ukraine's hopes for "a peaceful new Europe where there... MORE