Russia's Foreign Ministry yesterday released a statement that "strongly condemned the irresponsible and obviously deliberate anti-Russian campaign, aimed at casting Russia as the external enemy of Georgia." Arguing that the suspicions of Russian involvement in terrorist acts in Georgia had been disproved, the statement targeted... MORE

Georgia's Foreign Ministry yesterday released a statement reminding Moscow that it owes Tbilisi compensation for the presence of Russian troops on Georgian territory. The statement provided a rough breakdown of Georgian claims as follows: rent for the 18,000 hectares of Georgian land in the use... MORE

The Milli Majlis (parliament) of Azerbaijan voted yesterday to authorize criminal proceedings against the former chairman of parliament, Rasul Guliev. Chief Prosecutor Eldar Hasanov told the chamber that Guliev had embezzled and misappropriated $23 million, mainly through sweetheart deals with foreign importers of Azerbaijani crude... MORE

The commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Viktor Kravchenko, indicated yesterday at his Sevastopol headquarters that the Fleet's base in Novorossiisk may be in a critical condition. Kravchenko urged the base command, "even in these severe financial circumstances," to do more in order to... MORE

Government officials marked the first anniversary of the April 2 ratification of the Russo-Belarusan union by smoothing the friction that erupted last month following the collapse of the Belarusan ruble (zaichik). This friction took several forms: allegations by Minsk that Belarus's currency crisis had been... MORE

Belarusan opposition leader Henadz Karpenka told the local press yesterday that President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has, under outside pressure, agreed in principle to call parliamentary elections this year. According to Karpenka, this step was demanded by the OSCE observer mission recently set up in Belarus. Karpenka... MORE

The results of Ukraine's March 29 parliamentary elections pose a number of questions for the Ukrainian economy. While the answers may await the formation of a new government and its economic program, some points seem clear already. On the one hand, Ukraine's long economic collapse... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin said yesterday that he will obey the ruling of Russia's Constitutional Court and sign into law a controversial bill aimed at preventing the repatriation of artworks seized by Soviet troops at the end of the World War II. Yeltsin said he remained... MORE

Acting Prime Minister Sergei Kirienko will outline his economic program in an address to parliament on April 10. After this the State Duma will vote whether to confirm him in office. Reuter reports that it has seen outline notes of what its informant says was... MORE

All sides expressed satisfaction at the close of yesterday's roundtable discussion, called by President Boris Yeltsin in an effort to persuade parliamentary faction leaders and trade unionists to accept his choice of Sergei Kirienko as Russia's next prime minister. In reality, the sides appeared as... MORE