An "expanded session" of the Ukrainian government, with 2,200 regional administration officials and state enterprise directors in attendance, opened in Kyiv's Ukraina Palace on August 5. Chairing the session, Prime Minister Valery Pustovoytenko informed the gathering about the critical situation of the state budget and... MORE

In a televised appearance yesterday, Armenian President Robert Kocharian expressed appreciation for his Azerbaijani counterpart Haidar Aliev's gesture to invite Kocharian to an international conference in Baku. Kocharian added that Aliev's was "not an easy step to take in the current political situation in Azerbaijan"--a... MORE

The "Erna Raid-98" international paramilitary exercise is being held from August 5-8 in Estonia, with the participation of units from ten countries and several Estonian units. The exercise, considered one the world's most strenuous in this category, features guerrilla operations in swamp and forest terrain,... MORE

Russian Gazprom chairman Rem Vyakhirev held talks yesterday in Minsk with President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Prime Minister Syarhey Linh on the repayment of Belarus' US$250 million worth of arrears for Russian gas. Vyakhirev proposed that Belarus settle part of the debt by: turning over to... MORE

A series of joint exercises between Russia's Pacific Fleet and the U.S. Seventh Fleet got underway earlier this week in Russia's Far East. But ceremonies marking the arrival of the USS Germantown in Vladivostok on August 4 were marred by the protests of Russian demonstrators--representatives... MORE

The Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported on August 5 that the Russian Pacific Fleet and Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Forces are considering the establishment of a "hot line." The new link would allow the two navies to communicate easily and quickly and might be especially useful... MORE

A long-simmering territorial dispute between the Akkin Chechens of Dagestan's Khasavyurt district and the Avars living in the village of Novo-Mikhelta of Dagestan's Novolak district has come to the boil in the past three weeks. Some Akkin Chechens, descendants of people who were exiled from... MORE

The Federal Tax Service has begun to appropriate the property of three major oil companies for nonpayment of taxes. This includes a freeze on their bank accounts. The companies are Sidanko, Onako and Eastern Oil, and their numerous subsidiaries. Announcing the move yesterday, Vladimir Popov... MORE

The federal government patted itself on the back yesterday when Russia's air traffic controllers called off the strike they had been threatening to start on August 9. The government had responded by rushing out a ruling that strikes by air transport workers were illegal on... MORE

Russia called yesterday for Iraq to fulfill UN Security Council resolutions and "to continue constructive cooperation with the UN special commission for disarming Iraq without making ultimatums." A Russian Foreign Ministry statement also expressed what it said was Moscow's "serious concern over the new worsening... MORE