Striking coal miners are continuing to picket the Trans-Siberian railway in Kemerovo Oblast. Their protests, now entering its third week, are beginning to have serious consequences for factories in Kemerovo Oblast and neighboring regions of Siberia. The Kuznetsk and West Siberian metallurgical plants--the largest such... MORE

Chechnya's prosecutor general has issued an order for the arrest of Salman Raduev, leader of the "Army of Djohar Dudaev" and one of the most radical Chechen field commanders. Raduevis is charged with attempting to overthrow the government--a capital offense under Chechen law. The charges... MORE

President Guntis Ulmanis and Education Minister Janis Gaigals have agreed to postpone the deadline for teachers in Russian-language schools to take the test of competence in the Latvian language. The deadline had been set for September 1, which would have allowed the teachers to prepare... MORE

The European Union handed over to the Belarusan government on July 10 a list of 130 Belarusan official posts whose holders are banned from entering European Union countries. The posts, starting with that of the president of Belarus, encompass the entire governmental (including diplomatic) and... MORE

The Secretary-General of NATO, Javier Solana, visited Ukraine on July 9 and 10 for talks with President Leonid Kuchma and the Ukrainian leadership. The visit was timed to the anniversary of the NATO-Ukraine Distinctive Partnership Charter, signed on July 9, 1997. (See the Monitor, July... MORE

The narrow election of Oleksandr Tkachenko of the Socialist-Peasant bloc as chairman of the new Ukrainian parliament (see the Monitor, July 8) has opened the way for a takeover of most leadership posts in the legislature by leftists and their fellow-travelers. The new first-vice chairman... MORE

The Richard Nixon Center for Peace and Freedom has conferred on Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze the 1988 Award for Nation-Building. According to an accompanying statement, the award takes into account Shevardnadze's efforts and "Georgia's significance to U.S. interests." The Center's bipartisan board made the decision... MORE

Defense Minister Davit Tevzadze admitted during a July 10 press conference that "a defeatist syndrome exists" in the Georgian army since last May's fighting in Abkhazia. According to Tevzadze, this "purely psychological syndrome" is in the process of being overcome through more intensive troop training.... MORE

The "Union of Azerbaijani Patriotic Forces" (UAPF) held its founding conference on July 11 in Baku at the initiative of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan. Three left-wing parties and 10 public organizations joined the Union and approved its program. According to Communist Party First Secretary... MORE

Russian, Kazakh and Kyrgyz officers completed on July 9 a three-day staff exercise, held at a military base outside Almaty. The Dostyk/Druzhba (Friendship)-98 exercise, the first of its type, rehearsed joint operations by the three countries' forces. In the first phase, putative joint forces destroyed... MORE