Prime Minister Sergei Kirienko will today unveil his "anticrisis program" which, the government hopes, will restore investors' confidence in the Russian economy. The plan is to be discussed at a joint meeting of the cabinet and parliamentary leaders, chaired by President Boris Yeltsin. Kirienko said... MORE

In a radio address marking the anniversary of the 1941 Nazi invasion of the USSR, President Boris Yeltsin warned yesterday of the danger of an increase in fascism and racism among young people in Russia. "Not everyone," Yeltsin said, "is aware how real the threat... MORE

Chechen Deputy Prosecutor General Magomed Magomadov reports that the kidnappers of the Russian presidential representative in Chechnya, Valentin Vlasov, have demanded, through intermediaries, a ransom of US$2 million. According to Magomadov, they have also offered to exchange Vlasov for Daud Korigov, former interior minister of... MORE

A truck containing an eleven-man OMON [Special Purpose Militia] detachment from Lipetsk hit a mine in Dagestan's Kizlyar district. One serviceman was killed and two others were wounded. The previous evening, there was another raid on Russian servicemen. Unknown gunmen opened fire on the living... MORE

The International Circassian Association has appealed to Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov for assistance in obtaining Russian citizenship for Circassians in Kosovo, and in securing their return to Russia. (Nezavisimaya gazeta, June 19) "Circassians" is the collective name of a group of peoples indigenous to... MORE

In the third and final reading yesterday, the Latvian parliament approved amendments to its citizenship law. Details and voting tallies are not immediately available, but the changes clearly enable most Soviet-era settlers to acquire Latvian citizenship easily. Russia had pressed for adoption of these changes,... MORE

Attending a NATO seminar on political and military decisionmaking, Lithuanian president Valdas Adamkus called for a balanced enlargement of the alliance on both flanks. Endorsing the candidacies of Slovenia and Romania for the southern flank, Adamkus urged NATO to match that move on the northern... MORE

The ambassadors of the United States and all five European Union countries represented in Minsk--Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Greece--left Belarus yesterday, having been withdrawn by their governments "for consultations." The ambassadors of Turkey and Lithuania had left a few days earlier. Those of Poland... MORE

Ukraine is about to test in Pakistan the new MTB-2000 tank, whose prototype has been produced under a trilateral Ukraine-China-Pakistan project. The tank is designed to function in hot and dry climate zones. In a parallel development, Ukraine will soon offer to Central and East... MORE

Aleksandr Saydakov, head of the ultranationalist Russian Liberal-Democratic Party's branch in Transdniester, died yesterday of the wounds sustained in the June 12 assassination attempt against him in Tiraspol (see the Monitor, June 15-16). In a coma since the shooting, Saydakov underwent surgery in Moldova's capital... MORE