Russia's stock and bond markets and the ruble's exchange rate resumed their downward trend yesterday, despite a weekend pledge from U.S. President Bill Clinton to help the country out of its financial crisis. The index of share prices fell a further 10 percent to reach... MORE

Prime Minister Sergei Kirienko yesterday announced fresh terms for the auction of Rosneft, the last big oil company still in state hands. The government hopes the sale will produce a much needed injection of cash, having been seriously embarrassed last week when the company failed... MORE

The adventures aboard Russia's aging space station Mir have resumed in recent days, as the shutdown of the vessel's main computer on May 30 left crew members racing yesterday to reactivate Mir's automatic steering system. Successful reactivation of the system is essential if the U.S.... MORE

An article in an economic weekly raised a corner of the curtain on the sensitive subject of nuclear technology transfer from Russia. The author, A. Yurevich, heads the social psychology unit at the Academy of Sciences' Institute of Natural History and Technology. (Ekonomika i zhizn,... MORE

Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov used a visit to Finland yesterday to reiterate Moscow's opposition to any further enlargement of the NATO alliance. Speaking to reporters following talks with Finnish Foreign Minister Tarja Halonen at the end of his four-day visit, Primakov said that "we... MORE

The governor of Russia's Far Eastern Sakhalin region said yesterday that President Boris Yeltsin had issued a package of decrees to provide greater federal support for both Sakhalin and the disputed South Kuril Islands. (Itar-Tass, June 1) The South Kurils--a part of Sakhalin region--are claimed... MORE

Tatarstani Prime Minister Farid Mukhametshin was elected speaker of Tatarstan's parliament, the State Council, on May 27. The post fell vacant when Vasily Likhachev was appointed as Russia's permanent representative to the European Union. Mukhametshin's candidacy was proposed by President Mintimer Shaimiev. The Monitor's correspondent... MORE

Lithuania's ruling Fatherland Union (FU) yesterday cleared the way for the appointment of Mecys Laurinkus as general director of the State Security Department. President Valdas Adamkus had proposed the appointment, but FU was reluctant to lose Laurinkus' seat and services in parliament. Laurinkus, 47, was... MORE

Currently on a visit to Ukraine, Zbigniew Brzezinski stated at a news conference in Kyiv that Ukrainian successes in foreign policy far outpaced internal development. Brzezinski forecast that Ukraine would catch up on the domestic front and, by the year 2010, qualify for NATO membership.... MORE

The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan yesterday sentenced twenty defendants to prison terms ranging from six months to fourteen years for involvement in an abortive coup d'etat in 1996. Most defendants were supporters of former Prime Minister Suret Huseinov, who had been defeated in an 1994... MORE