Seleznev also told reporters that three Duma committees are now working jointly with the government on drafting a law on Russia's strategic forces. He said that the law would offer a blueprint for the strategic forces' development and must likewise provide for their financing. Seleznev... MORE

Russian President Boris Yeltsin on June 6 used a telephone conversation with Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to express Moscow's alarm over the recent nuclear tests conducted by India and Pakistan. According to Kremlin spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky, Yeltsin said that the nuclear competition between... MORE

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is reportedly ready to resume the work of its mission in Chechnya, on condition that the republic authorities provide security guarantees for foreign staff. The subject was discussed during a recent meeting between representatives of the Red... MORE

Aleksandr Lebed kissed the Bible as he was sworn in as governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai on June 5. Among those attending the ceremony was the ubiquitous media tycoon and politician Boris Berezovsky, who gave Lebed's campaign financial support. Berezovsky promised further financial aid to boost... MORE

Interviewed on June 5 by Russian media, Latvian President Guntis Ulmanis expressed his "disagreement with those politicians who propose that Latvia adopt the Finnish security model and choose nonalignment." Ulmanis pointed out that Finland's historical experience differs from that of Latvia, which lost its independence... MORE

Over the weekend, Latvian paramilitary units conducted an exercise that presupposed a foreign invading army trying to seize Latvia's main ports and transit arteries. According to the scenario, the invasion capped an internal political crisis in Latvia instigated from the outside. Latvian forces practiced a... MORE

Writing in the weekend edition of the government mouthpiece Respublika, Foreign Minister Ivan Antanovich lamented "the dissolution of the USSR as a great historic tragedy" and described the Russia-Belarus Union as a step toward restoring a "renewed and more viable power." According to Antanovich, Russia... MORE

Held on June 5 in Yalta, the fourth annual summit of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) proved as irrelevant as the previous meetings of this stillborn organization. The gathering did, however, provide a setting for bilateral talks in which Ukraine raised its profile as... MORE

Addressing a session of the Georgian parliament's Bureau, Parliament Chairman Zurab Zhvania accused Russia's GRU (Main Intelligence Directorate of the armed forces) of involvement in "subversive activities against the Georgian government." According to Zhvania, the GRU operates out of Russian military bases in Kutaisi and... MORE

The seemingly all-powerful defense minister of Karabakh, Lieutenant-General Samvel Babaian, looked set for a political triumph last week, when he forced the resignation of prime minister Leonard Petrosian. The conflict was one of personalities but also focused on economic issues, on which Babaian wanted to... MORE