Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported yesterday that between 1993 and 1995, the Israeli government had purchased hundreds of satellite photos of Syria, Iran and Iraq from Russian intelligence. Israel reportedly paid $1 million for the information. The newspaper said that details of the secret sales were... MORE

On the second of a two-day visit to Moscow, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan yesterday met with Russian President Boris Yeltsin and with the country's acting foreign minister, Yevgeny Primakov. He also addressed the Russian Duma. The UN leader, who in February brokered an agreement... MORE

Moscow spearheaded international efforts earlier this year aimed at reaching a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Iraq, and insistently urged the UN Secretary General to involve himself personally in the crisis. When Annan did finally travel to Baghdad and concluded an agreement with Iraq... MORE

Russian President Boris Yeltsin yesterday moved Sergei Stepashin from his post as justice minister and appointed him acting interior minister, replacing Andrei Kulikov, whom Yeltsin sacked last week. Stepashin and Kulikov had clashed repeatedly in recent months over who should manage Russia's prisons: Russia undertook... MORE

With almost 50 percent of the vote counted in yesterday's presidential runoff in Armenia, Prime Minister and acting president Robert Kocharian is credited with having obtained 62 percent of the votes cast. The former leader of the Armenian Communist party, Karen Demirchian, is reported to... MORE

The lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, decided this morning to vote on a motion calling on President Boris Yeltsin not to appoint Sergei Kirienko as his prime minister. Instead, the Duma wants Yeltsin to hold roundtable talks with the Duma on... MORE

Russian President Boris Yeltsin said yesterday that he will not seek a third term in office when his present one comes to an end in 2000. (NTV, March 30) Yeltsin has said this before. He has not, however, sought to prevent an appeal to the... MORE

In good news for Russia's reform wing, Prime Minister-designate Sergei Kirienko is said to have invited a number of leading economists to draft variants of the government program that Kirienko will submit to the State Duma on April 3. (Russian agencies, March 30) According to... MORE

Tajikistan's Defense and Internal Affairs Ministries admitted yesterday that they had lost at least twenty-one killed and at least 110 captured in the March 24-25 battle with opposition forces in Kofarnihon district, twenty to twenty-five kilometers east of Dushanbe. The opposition lost only four killed,... MORE

Armenia's voters are choosing today between prime minister and Acting President Robert Kocharian and the former Communist party leader Karen Demirchian in the runoff election for president of the country. The first round of the election, held on March 16 and involving twelve candidates, ended... MORE