Three Russian soldiers were wounded, one apparently fatally, during the night of July 26-27, when their armored personnel carrier ran over an anti-tank mine. Russian and Abkhaz spokesmen blamed the explosion on Georgian guerrillas. Two similar nighttime blasts on July 12-13 and July 22-23 killed... MORE

At least ten Georgian cabinet ministers resigned yesterday, following the resignation of State Minister (equivalent of prime minister) Niko Lekishvili. President Eduard Shevardnadze made public yesterday his intention to replace most of the twenty-two ministers. He also announced the creation of a ministry responsible for... MORE

Tajik President Imomali Rahmonov issued on July 24 and 25 two unprecedented decrees aimed at tightening military discipline. The first decree gives the Defense, Internal Affairs and State Security ministries a deadline of two months for (1) drawing up inventories of arms and military equipment... MORE

The government of Tajikistan yesterday withdrew the accreditation of Yelena Masyuk, correspondent of the Moscow-based NTV (Independent Television), and declared her persona non grata. The government threatened to close down NTV's Dushanbe bureau if the company contests the decision. Official Dushanbe objected to the tenor... MORE

Vice President Al Gore wound up a brief visit to Moscow on July 24 with some positive words about both Russia's handling of its current financial crisis and Prime Minister Sergei Kirienko's performance to date as head of government. The talks on July 23-24 were... MORE

A meeting between the foreign ministers of Russia and South Korea has apparently failed to resolve a dispute between the two countries over a series of spy charges and a related expulsion of diplomats. Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov met in Manila yesterday with his... MORE

In additional talks held yesterday in Manila, Japanese Foreign Minister Keizo Obuchi reiterated to his Russian counterpart Tokyo's intention to continue pushing for improved ties with Moscow and to follow through with a previously agreed upon set of high-level contacts. Obuchi was elected on July... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin has sacked the head of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the domestic successor of the Soviet KGB. The FSB is responsible for counterintelligence and domestic security including monitoring extremism. (NTV, July 25) No immediate reason was given for the dismissal of FSB... MORE

Prime Minister Sergei Kirienko met over the weekend with President Boris Yeltsin in the president's lakeside retreat in Karelia. Kirienko said after the meeting that Yeltsin instructed him to meet this week with Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov, who last week survived an assassination attempt in... MORE

Aleksandr Lebed grabbed the limelight during Vice-President Al Gore's visit to Moscow last week by releasing an open letter to Prime Minister Sergei Kirienko in which he warned of the dire consequences of Moscow's failure to pay its nuclear-armed troops. Lebed wrote that soldiers in... MORE