Belarus's trade deficit and growing arrears for Russian energy imports are pushing Minsk toward offering equity in the country's oil refineries in order to settle the debts of Russian oil exporters. Belarus's $1.5 billion trade deficit in 1997--a $200 million increase on the 1996 figure--has... MORE

Belarus's external pressures, combined with continued controls over prices and the overvalued exchange rate, are also pushing the government towards recentralizing foreign trade. A decree that would recreate the Soviet-era government monopoly on the import and export of selected products is awaiting government approval. (Interfax,... MORE

Ukraine's Interbank Currency Exchange Chairman Vadim Hetman was gunned down during the night of April 22 to 23 at the entrance to his home in downtown Kyiv. One or several perpetrators fired six shots at Hetman, four of which hit him. The authorities suspect a... MORE

It looks as if Ukraine's frustrating five-year effort to reach an agreement with Russia on the repatriation of forty-four Soviet strategic bombers inherited by Ukraine is coming to end. Last week, Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council decided to scrap all but four of the... MORE

Addressing parliament this morning, Kirienko pitched his appeal to the opposition by detailing the steps he has taken to improve the lot of the beleaguered coal mining industry. (BBC, April 24) Russia is negotiating a $600 million loan from the World Bank to finance the... MORE

NATO-member Italy signed a plan of military cooperation with Russia on April 22. The agreement, aimed at raising "military cooperation between the two countries to the level of the political dialogue between Rome and Moscow," followed talks in the Russian capital between Italian Defense Minister... MORE

Russia's State Duma is due to vote today for the third and decisive time on President Yeltsin's choice of Sergei Kirienko as prime minister. Kirienko addressed parliament this morning in person and appealed for approval. To be confirmed, Kirienko needs a simple majority of 226... MORE

Rounding off the changes at the top of Kazakhstan's oil sector, Erlan Upushev was appointed yesterday to the post of president of the state company Kazakhtransoil. The company operates the country's pipeline system; and it represents Kazakhstan in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, composed of leading... MORE

On April 14, a syndicate of Western banks confirmed, in a strong vote of confidence, a ten-year $250 million loan, launched jointly by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), to Ispat Karmet in Kazakhstan. Ispat Karmet, one... MORE

Turkey's Energy and Natural Resources Minister Cumhur Ersumer conferred with Azerbaijani President Haidar Aliev and other officials in Baku on April 20-22 regarding the main oil export pipeline from Baku to Turkey's Mediterranean port Ceyhan. The sides discussed a significant expansion and acceleration of the... MORE