President Leonid Kuchma appointed Boris Tarasiuk to the post of Foreign Minister on April 17, replacing Hennady Udovenko. Indications are that Tarasiuk's efforts to a more Western political direction may be even stronger than the previous minister's. Born in Zhitomir region in 1949, Tarasiuk studied... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin returned to Moscow after his visit to Japan for a final week of wheeling and dealing in which he must try to persuade the Russian parliament to approve his nominee for prime minister. "The main battle is still ahead." Yeltsin said over... MORE

Two policemen and three others were killed on the night of April 18-19 in the Novolaksk district of Dagestan close to the border with Chechnya. When police stopped a car at a checkpoint and demanded to see the passengers' documents, the passengers opened fire. Two... MORE

A series of agreements were reached in the Kawana talks. The two leaders resolved to continue their informal meetings. Hashimoto is to visit Moscow this fall and Yeltsin will travel to Japan again sometimes next year. Hashimoto announced that Tokyo will expand visa-free travel to... MORE

The ambivalent responses occasioned by these last proposals underscored yet again how the two sides differ on the territorial issue. Prior to this weekend's talks, Moscow floated the idea of a more comprehensive treaty. The proposal, though, raised some suspicions in Japan that Moscow was... MORE

Beset by problems at home, the leaders of Russia and Japan yesterday wound up a two-day summit that exuded amicability and maintained a recent steady improvement in bilateral relations. The summit also resulted in a number of initiatives aimed at broadening political and economic ties... MORE

A U.S. Navy ship yesterday escorted a coastal guard cutter into Georgia's Black Sea port of Poti. Another cutter is due to be handed over shortly. The cutters are newly made in the United States for delivery to Georgia free of charge. Meanwhile Germany is... MORE

Moscow is moving close to agreement with Kazakhstan but continues disagreeing with Azerbaijan and, apparently, with Turkmenistan on the legal status of the Caspian Sea. On April 14 in Ashgabat, Russia's First Deputy Foreign Minister Boris Pastukhov presented to Turkmen President Saparmurat Niazov a draft... MORE

A convoy of three trucks carrying federal troops from Beslan to Kabardino-Balkaria came under fire yesterday near the North Ossetian town of Khurikau. The region is inhabited mainly by ethnic Ingush. Among those killed were the head of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian... MORE

Ukrainian arms exports topped $600 million in 1997 and are projected to reach $1 billion in 1998, according to UkrSpetsEksport head Andriy Kukin. The Ukrainian agency, which handles arms sales abroad, often competes with its Russian counterpart Rosvooruzhenie, Kukin remarked in a Russian press interview.... MORE