At least five people were killed and seven wounded yesterday in the western Georgian town Zugdidi, when an unidentified gunman fired at mourners during the funeral of Gocha Esebua. A crowd of 1,000 was accompanying the Esebua family at the funeral. (International agencies, April 5)... MORE

At least sixty-three miners were killed and nearly fifty wounded, some of them critically, in a methane-gas explosion on April 4 at the Skochinsky coal mine near Donetsk. The same mine was the scene of a similar explosion in 1992 that killed seventeen workers. The... MORE

Addressing a San Francisco audience, Georgian Parliament Chairman Zurab Zhvania expressed the hope that the United States would use its influence to ensure that the main export pipeline for Caspian oil is routed via Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey rather than through Russian territory. "We expect... MORE

Latvia's National Security Council, chaired by President Guntis Ulmanis, resolved on April 3 to dismiss the Defense Forces commander, Major General Juris Dalbins. The basis for dismissal: Dalbins' participation in the March 16 commemorative march of World War II Latvian legionnaires. The commanders of the... MORE

Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov and Security Council Secretary Andrei Kokoshin held talks in Moscow on April 3 with Belarusan Foreign Minister Ivan Antanavich. They two ministers told a news conference that they had discussed, "in the common interest," measures to "draw a red line... MORE

The recent approval by the Russian government of a draft agreement that would standardize legislation protecting intellectual property within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) illustrates the difficulties faced by reformers in Moscow, and other CIS capitals, who attempt to develop intra-CIS, as opposed to... MORE

The procuracy in Russia has generally been seen as the toothless handmaiden of the civil power. It came as a surprise, therefore, when the oblast procurator in Saratov Oblast, Nikolai Makarov, issued Saratov Governor Dmitri Ayatskov an official and public warning that, if Ayatskov goes... MORE

Leaders of the republics, krais and oblasts of Russia's North Caucasus met on April 4 in the Chechen capital, Djohar. This is the second such meeting in two weeks (the last one took place in Rostov in mid-March). Mairabek Vachagaev, press secretary of Chechen President... MORE

A meeting of shareholders on April 4 elected former First Deputy Premier Anatoly Chubais to the board of directors of United Energy Systems, Russia's electricity monopoly. It also accepted the resignation of Boris Brevnov, an ally of Acting First Deputy Premier Boris Nemtsov, as chairman... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin is due to hold a roundtable meeting tomorrow (April 7) with leaders of Russia's main parliamentary factions. Their goal: to persuade the president to withdraw his nomination of Sergei Kirienko as prime minister and appoint someone more amenable to themselves. The favorite... MORE