Police in the Chechen capital, Djohar, yesterday removed the remains of seventeen people from the cellar of a city kindergarten. The bodies were discovered by children playing nearby. Relatives of people who disappeared without trace in the battles for Grozny in August 1996 are being... MORE

Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov flew to the United States on August 5. In addition to taking part in an international conference on Islamic unity, he plans to meet with the U.S. Secretary of State's adviser on Russia and the newly independent states, Stephen Sestanovich. No... MORE

Seleznev's threat that the Duma may review the land issue at its extraordinary session increases the chances that the session will be acrimonious. Land reform remains a major bone of contention between the Duma and the Yeltsin leadership. The two are already set on a... MORE

The speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament, Gennady Seleznev, said yesterday that he had agreed to a request from Prime Minister Sergei Kirienko for the Duma to interrupt its summer holiday and convene for an extraordinary session on August 19 and 20.... MORE

There were conflicting reports yesterday about the status of the strike action being taken by coal miners in various parts of Russia. On the island of Sakhalin, to the north of Japan, where the threat of a total electricity blackout has been most acute, miners'... MORE

Russian Justice Minister Pavel Krasheninnikov asserted yesterday that, in April 1999, the full abolition of capital punishment will replace the presidentially-decreed moratorium on executions that has been in place for the past year. (Russian agencies, August 4) Krasheninnikov was speaking during a visit to Saratov... MORE

Recently-named Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said on August 3 that he intends to pay an official visit to Russia sometime in November. The announcement was not unexpected. Obuchi's predecessor, former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, was himself scheduled to visit Moscow this fall. In recent... MORE

A month-long spy scandal that has roiled relations between Russia and South Korea has apparently cost South Korean Foreign Minister Park Chung-soo his job. Park resigned under pressure yesterday and issued a statement expressing his apologies for the mishandling of Russian-South Korean relations. South Korean... MORE

Kazakhstan announced yesterday a temporary suspension of nuclear fuel production at its Ulba enterprise. The plant, using uranium ore mined in Kazakhstan, produces uranium dioxide tablets, which are then shipped to Russia for further processing into nuclear fuel rods. The rods are being used by... MORE

Azerbaijani President Haidar Aliev has invited Armenian President Robert Kocharian to attend an international conference in Baku on September 7-8 on the TRACECA (Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia) project. The visit, should it take place, would be the first by a leader of either country to the... MORE