The governor of Leningrad Oblast, Vadim Gustov, was quoted at the weekend as calling for elections to Russia's State Duma to be brought forward from December 1999 to the spring of that year. Otherwise, he pointed out, decisions of national importance will be held up... MORE

Russian Interior Minister Sergei Stepashin and Chechen Deputy Prime Minister Kazbek Makhashev met on May 16 in Nazran, capital of Ingushetia, and agreed to sign an agreement on cooperation between Russian and Chechen law enforcement agencies within the next ten days. The agreement will be... MORE

First Deputy Minister of Shariah State Security Shamsudi Uvaisaev and former Foreign Minister Ruslan Chimaev, who served under Chechnya's first President, Djohar Dudaev, were shot dead during a robbery at Uvaisaev's home in a mountainous region of Chechnya on May 15. (RTR, Itar-Tass, May 16)... MORE

Russia's former Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin may run in a by-election for the State Duma, an associate said last week. (Russian agencies, May 14) Chernomyrdin may run for the seat from the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug vacated by Vladimir Goman when he entered the new government... MORE

The leader of Crimea's Communist Party, Leonid Grach, has been elected Speaker of the peninsula's Supreme Soviet. (Ukrainian Television, May 14; UNIAN, May 15 ) Grach's first move was to dismiss the government of Prime Minister Anatoly Franchuk, a moderate and a relative by marriage... MORE

Roger Growe, the director of World Bank programs in Moldova, told a Chisinau press conference last week that "Moldova is currently on the threshold of losing its creditworthiness", adding that "Moldova's capacity for external borrowing is close to zero." On the same day, Moody's announced... MORE

On May 15, Russian President Boris Yeltsin offered to meet "soon" with Latvian President Guntis Ulmanis in order to "move closer" to signing the long-pending border agreement among the two countries. Acknowledging the Latvian parliament's readiness to take decisions that "do not violate the rights... MORE

Amid high publicity in Transdniester's mass media, the Ministry of State Security celebrated on May 16 the sixth anniversary of its official creation. Minister Vladimir Antyufeev in his festive address gave credit to "the USSR KGB's veterans on the ministry's staff" for ensuring Transdniester's stability... MORE

The Ajar deputies have withdrawn from the Georgian parliament, pending a final decision by their Revival Party's May 30 congress. Jemal Gogitidze, leader of the Revival group of deputies in the Tbilisi parliament, announced on May 15 this decision, adding that the group had already... MORE

President Imomali Rahmonov charged, on May 16, that the United Tajik Opposition's main party, the Party of Islamic Revival, aims to turn Tajikistan into an "Islamic state." In a speech to a pro-regime youth organization, Rahmonov dismissed the PIR leaders' assurances that they do not... MORE