The Clinton administration last month reportedly moved to spotlight some twenty Russian agencies suspected of leaking missile technology to Iran. The administration's action appears to be preliminary, however. It apparently does not involve any sanctions. That is the conclusion suggested, at least, from reports published... MORE

In a radio interview broadcast on April 15, acting Russian Deputy Atomic Energy Minister Yevgeny Reshetnikov assailed the United States for its opposition to plans by Russia to complete the Juragua nuclear power plant in Cuba. Reshetnikov dismissed U.S. complaints that the plant could pose... MORE

Official sources in both Moscow and Tokyo have indicated over the past two days that the outcome of today's Duma vote on Sergei Kirienko as prime minister would not affect the upcoming Japanese-Russian summit. The informal meeting will take place, as re-scheduled, this weekend. Speaking... MORE

Russia's State Duma this morning rejected President Boris Yeltsin's nominee for prime minister, Sergei Kirienko, for the second time. Today's vote -- 115 for Kirienko and 271 against -- represents a substantially greater defeat than the first vote a week ago. Before today's vote, Kirienko... MORE

Interviewed on Russian TV last night, tycoon Boris Berezovsky denied media reports that he had been reprimanded by President Boris Yeltsin for trying to meddle in the formation of the new Russian government. (NTV, April 16; see also the Monitor, April 16) Berezovsky did, however,... MORE

The government of Kazakhstan approved on April 14 a long-term state program for the development of nuclear power. Unveiled by Science Minister Vladimir Shkolnik, also president of Kazakhstan's Academy of Sciences, the program centers on the projected nuclear power plant on the shore of Lake... MORE

At least six Russian soldiers were killed and twelve (fifteen according to another version) were injured on April 14 during a Russian war game in Tajikistan. The mishap occurred when an Uragan missile went off trajectory and hit an armored personnel carrier with soldiers aboard.... MORE

On April 14, Georgia celebrated the Day of Georgian Language, a national holiday that recalls the 1978 mass demonstration in Tbilisi in favor of conferring official status on the national language. A new constitution, finalized in Moscow for the Georgian SSR, had failed to include... MORE

President Petru Lucinschi and the pro-presidential Bloc for a Democratic and Prosperous Moldova consider that any coalition government must be based on a clear understanding that unification of Moldova with Romania is ruled out. Officials told the Monitor that the BDPM and presidential circles are... MORE

In a statement issued yesterday, Russia's Foreign Ministry denounced a "mounting wave of subversion and terrorism, directed against local residents and Russian peacekeepers" in Abkhazia. Charging that "Georgian authorities well know the bandit groups engaged in this activity," the statement warned that Russian forces "have... MORE