Russia's Duma yesterday postponed the debate and vote on ratifying the Russia-Ukraine interstate treaty, signed by Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kuchma in May 1997. Postponed repeatedly since, and last scheduled for February 6, the vote on ratification is being delayed by the Duma's leftist-nationalist... MORE

The crash of a Russian military An-124 "Ruslan" transport in Irkutsk on December 6 was caused by the failure of three of its four engines due to "defective engine design," announced Russian Air Force Commander-in-Chief Colonel General Anatoly Kornukov on Tuesday. He said that this... MORE

Chechen field commander Salman Raduev has claimed responsibility for the assassination attempt on Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze. According to Raduev, this was not a terrorist act but an operation against "Russian bandit formations in Georgia led by Shevardnadze." The operation, he says, was carried out... MORE

The chairman of Dagestan's State Council, Magomedali Magomedov, and Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov met in Grozny on February 12. Agreeing that the border between their two republics should be kept open, the two leaders pledged to join forces in the battle against terrorism, banditry and... MORE

In March, the State Duma will get its third chance to consider adopting the government's new tax code. If adopted, the government hopes to instate it effective January 1999. The IMF considers the new legislation vital, both to putting the federal government's finances on a... MORE

U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen was the recipient of an unexpectedly hostile reception in Moscow yesterday, as Russia's defense chief used the occasion to lambaste the United States for its threat to bomb Iraq. In remarks to the press that preceded official talks between the... MORE

Russia's Foreign Ministry has sharply denied yesterday's Washington Post report alleging that in 1995 the Russian government may have negotiated the sale to Iraq of equipment used in the manufacture of biological weapons. In remarks to reporters yesterday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady Tarasov dismissed the... MORE

President Imomali Rahmonov and United Tajik Opposition (UTO) Chairman Saidabdullo Nuri held yesterday yet another fruitless negotiation on the allotment of government posts to the UTO. Under peace accords signed last June and July, UTO is entitled to a share of 30 percent of government... MORE

Only 5 percent of Moldovans favor unification with Romania. Eighty-three percent support independent statehood. Twelve percent are undecided. These figures are the findings of a public opinion survey just carried out by the "Opinia" Sociological Service. Forty-nine percent in the same poll favored membership in... MORE

President Eduard Shevardnadze, other Georgian officials and diplomats stationed in Tbilisi were cited in yesterday's New York Times as being in consensus that "forces in Russia" were behind the February 9 attempt on Shevardnadze's life. The officials and diplomats described Russian government circles as splintered,... MORE