The parliament in the Republic of Tatarstan yesterday adopted a land code that permits the free sale and purchase of land. Tatarstan's law goes further than the pioneering legislation adopted in nearby Saratov Oblast, as it permits land to be sold to foreign nationals and... MORE

On the afternoon of April 15, a group of unknown armed men kidnapped ten Russian border guards in Ingushetia and took them in an unknown direction. Chechen Deputy Premier Kazbek Makhashev, who oversees the work of the republic's force ministries, arrived in Moscow later in... MORE

Russia's Black Sea Fleet and the Ukrainian navy began large-scale war games on April 14, which will last through April 22. The exercises will involve combat and auxiliary ships (some forty Russian and seventeen Ukrainian), aircraft (undisclosed number of Russian, nine Ukrainian), armored vehicles (forty... MORE

Reports from Moscow indicate that President Boris Yeltsin has severed his ties with influential financier Boris Berezovsky. Berezovsky, who calls himself an adviser to Yeltsin's chief-of-staff and is to close to Yeltsin's daughter, Tatyana Dyachenko, has boasted that he was the person responsible for persuading... MORE

A top-level investigation has been launched in Yekaterinburg, Russia's fourth largest city, where police and students clashed on April 14. (RTR, Itar-Tass, April 15) Police launched a baton charge against a crowd of some 2,500 students who were demonstrating in the center of the city... MORE

Canadian Airlines has apparently been banned from flying a long-used route in Russian airspace, airline officials indicated earlier this week. On April 12, a Canadian Airlines flight from Beijing to Vancouver was forced to return to Beijing after Russian authorities refused it access to Russian... MORE

The lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, is to vote tomorrow for the second time on President Yeltsin's nomination of Sergei Kirienko as prime minister. Yesterday, the Duma changed its rules to allow tomorrow's vote to be an open one. Last week's... MORE

Russia and Israel have clashed again over Israeli charges that Iran continues to receive Russian missile technology and that -- because of the Russian aid -- Iran is getting ever closer to producing its own ballistic missile. In an interview published by the Russian newspaper... MORE

Soviet-era nuclear testing at Kazakhstan's Semey site will continue to both affect the local population for centuries and require international aid. Kazakhstani and foreign scientists presented this assessment on April 10 at a press conference in Almaty, after a seminar held last week in northeastern... MORE

The suspension of IMF funding has also forced the Ukrainian government to nearly quadruple the value of the treasury bills to be floated domestically this year. According to an April 10 government resolution, the value of the T-bill issues slated for 1998 will rise from... MORE