South Ossetian leader Lyudvig Chibirov yesterday termed "unacceptable" Tbilisi's proposals to create an "asymmetric federation" in Georgia. Chibirov called for turning Georgia into a "symmetric federation, all of whose units enjoy equal rights." He also came out against holding negotiations on South Ossetia's future political... MORE

United Tajik Opposition (UTO) First Deputy Chairman Akbar Turanjozoda yesterday reported that Moscow shares UTO's concerns over the Tajik parliament's recent measures against the UTO. Returning from talks with Russian officials in Moscow on economic and political issues, Turanjozoda reaffirmed that the UTO will insist... MORE

The international community rallied to the aid of the Russian government over the weekend. On May 29, the IMF announced that it would release the latest $670 million tranche of Russia's three-year, US$9.2 billion loan, which had been delayed since January. On May 31, President... MORE

The Russian government met on May 28 to plan emergency steps to plug the 60 billion ruble (US$10 billion) gap that has appeared in the 1998 budget. The measures planned are fourfold: across the board spending cuts of 42 billion rubles, tightening tax discipline, new... MORE

The government recognizes that, in the longer term, a radical reform of the tax code is essential to fiscal health. Boris Fedorov, former finance minister who last week took charge of the State Taxation Service with an upgrade to the rank of minister, said the... MORE

Russia's newly elected human rights commissioner, Oleg Mironov, has launched his first investigation. He wants to examine media allegations that it is possible for suspected criminals to avoid prosecution by greasing the palms of procuracy officials. As a start, Mironov has asked Russia's Prosecutor General... MORE

As it had during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Luxembourg on May 28 (see the Monitor, May 29), Russia joined with other world powers over the weekend in condemning Pakistan's recent nuclear tests and in seeking to forge an international consensus over how... MORE

Slovakian Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar held two days of talks in Moscow last week during which he met with President Boris Yeltsin, Prime Minister Sergei Kirienko and Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. Both sides proclaimed their satisfaction with the talks and with Slovakian-Russian relations in general.... MORE

According to a commentary published by Kommersant-Daily on May 28, the recent creation by President Boris Yeltsin of a State Commission for Military Development (see the Monitor, May 29) may represent not an effort to limit the authority of Security Council Secretary Andrei Kokoshin, but... MORE

Latvia's Supreme Court on May 30 sentenced "racketeering king" Ivan Kharitonov and three accomplices--Valagin, Korobeyko and Burlay--to prison terms on charges of extortion and kidnapping. The trial was the most significant anti-crime action to date in Latvia, where judicial action against organized crime has sometimes... MORE