Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev yesterday signed a decree changing the name of the country's new capital, Akmola, to Astana, effective immediately. The decree specifies that the general public, the maslikhat and the akimat (municipal council and city administration, respectively) had requested the change in order... MORE

The United States and Ukraine signed yesterday an agreement on cooperation in the nuclear energy sector. Ukraine is to receive $30 million in aid toward developing its own capability to produce nuclear fuel for its power-generating reactors. Ukraine at present depends on Russia for importing... MORE

President Petru Lucinschi yesterday mandated the incumbent Prime Minister Ion Ciubuc, a political ally, to form Moldova's post-election government. Ciubuc had been widely considered to be on his way out after the recent parliamentary elections. The nomination is nevertheless likely to succeed owing to a... MORE

A working group of the U.S. Defense Department and Latvia's Defense Ministry is currently holding talks in Riga on improving Latvia's military posture. The intent of the discussions is to produce a draft defense plan for Latvia, based on a recent assessment drawn up at... MORE

Aleksandr Nikitin, a former Russian navy captain whose case has been embraced by human rights activists in Russia and elsewhere, says he is to face additional charges of espionage. Nikitin was arrested originally in February of 1996 for work he did on a 1995 study... MORE

Viktor Khristenko, newly appointed deputy prime minister with responsibility for financial relations with the regions, is something of an unknown quantity. Most observers see him as a technocratic placeman whose main characteristic is loyalty to Boris Yeltsin. The 40-year old Khristenko is a graduate of... MORE

As part of the current reform, an eight-member economic policy presidium is being formed within the government. Kirienko on May 5 named the members as: himself as prime minister; his three deputy premiers Boris Nemtsov, Viktor Khristenko and Oleg Sysuev; Economy Minister Yakov Urinson; Finance... MORE

While last week's appointment of former First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Chubais as chairman of the board of governors of Russia's Unified Energy Systems (UES) evoked strong protests both in parliament and from the leftist opposition (see the Monitor, May 1). Chubais's designation also met... MORE

The final appointments to the new Russian government, originally promised for May 5, are now promised for tomorrow (May 8). Arguments are continuing over, first, what role Ivan Rybkin will play in the new government and, second, what post will be offered to the "Russia... MORE

Moscow has steadfastly backed the Serbian authorities in Belgrade--dissenting from several moves by its Contact Group partners to pressure Milosevic over Kosovo. To a degree greater than the other Group countries, Russia has also embraced Belgrade's interpretation of the crisis in Kosovo. Russian leaders have... MORE