Russian President Boris Yeltsin has postponed the meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Leonid Kuchma, which was to have been held in the first half of this month in Crimea. Yeltsin informed Kuchma about the postponement in a message yesterday. The "no-necktie summit" is now planned... MORE

President Leonid Kuchma conferred with the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano in Kyiv yesterday. They discussed the opening of diplomatic missions on a mutual basis and a possible visit to Ukraine by Pope John Paul II. Kuchma's spokesman cited the president as stating... MORE

After a series of inconclusive votes, some of them boycotted by anti-communist forces, it seems increasingly clear that the post of chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament will be kept out of communist or socialist hands. In yesterday's voting, the former president of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk,... MORE

In a U.S. press interview, Georgian Parliament Chairman Zurab Zhvania pointed out that "there has been no reaction from the Clinton administration" to Russian manipulation of the conflict in Abkhazia. In the presence of a visiting group of U.S. Congress staffers, Zhvania and other Georgian... MORE

President Nursultan Nazarbaev returned on May 27 from an official visit to the Gulf States during which he did his best to attract fresh investment for his country. Kazakhstan has an embassy in Saudi Arabia and economic representation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) but... MORE

Russian Prime MinisterSergei Kirienko started a two-day visit to France today. He is expected tocanvas French support for Russia's attempt to persuade the G7, whose financeministers are to meet in Paris next week, to put up a US$10 billionemergency loan to shore up the embattled... MORE

Russian PresidentBoris Yeltsin summoned ten of the country's leading industrialists andbankers to the Kremlin yesterday and appealed to them to help the countryout of its financial crisis. The situation, he told them, was "unbearable"and largely their fault. The failure of Russian investors to invest inRussia... MORE

The Kremlin's first reaction to the latest crisiswas to look for outside help and to appeal to the IMF and the G-7 for anemergency aid to shore up the ruble. Although under strong internationalpressure to help Russia out, IMF leaders made it clear that the... MORE

In the meantime, the threat of arenewal of last month's miners' strikes hangs over the government. DeputyPremier Boris Nemtsov did not mince his words yesterday when he addressed aplenary meeting of the coal miners' union. It was his uncomfortable task totell the unionists that, in... MORE

The Russian Duma confirmed yesterdaythat it plans to hold closed parliamentary hearings on the START II treatyon June 9. According to Duma deputy speaker Vladimir Ryzhkov, the hearingsare to take place at the Russian General Staff and will cover the full gamutof questions related to... MORE