British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook yesterday firmly rejected a proposal for a settlement of the Iraqi crisis. The offer, he said, had been conveyed to him that day during a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov. According to Cook, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein... MORE

Yesterday Prime Minister Robert Kocharian became the acting president of Armenia, and Kocharian's adviser Hozrov Harutiunian -- prime minister of Armenia in 1992 and 1993 -- was elected chairman of Parliament. The two took over their posts after Parliament Chairman Babken Ararktsian, the two vice-chairman... MORE

Thousands of Belarusan private traders have been on strike since February 1. Their protest: against the imposition of a virtually prohibitive tax on private business. Ordered by the State Tax Inspectorate, the tax is retroactive to 1997. It is levied on gross annual turnover rather... MORE

The parliament of Ukraine's autonomous republic of Crimea -- the Supreme Soviet -- yesterday decided to draft a bill on returning Crimea to Russia. the bill will be submitted to the Ukrainian parliament. The Soviet also began to consider the possibility of lifting its 1992... MORE

The Latvian Foreign Ministry's spokesman stated yesterday that NATO officials and representatives of member nations have expressed concern over Latvia's meager defense budget. During a session of the NATO-Latvia individual dialogue, held last week at the Brussels headquarters, alliance officials praised Latvia's military reform plan.... MORE

Russian specialists have located a powerful source of radiation on the outskirts of Grozny. The strength of the radiation at its epicenter is over 200 roentgens per hour. The dangerous cargo has now been taken away to be buried. It may originally have come from... MORE

Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov has rejected proposals floated by Russian Security Council Secretary Ivan Rybkin that Chechnya should become an "associated member" of the Russian Federation. "Chechnya will never, in any circumstances, agree to remain within Russia's constitutional and legal space," Maskhadov declared this week.... MORE

While another senior Defense Ministry official yesterday urged that Russia ratify the START II nuclear arms reduction treaty, the growing tensions between Russia and the United States over the Iraq crisis make the chances for ratification any time soon extremely remote. First Deputy Defense Minister... MORE

The Russian government has strengthened controls designed to stop the transfer of advanced missile technology to Iran, the head of the Russian Space Agency (RSA) informed U.S. officials in Washington last week. Yury Koptev was in Washington for the signing of an agreement to launch... MORE

On February 2, Russia's Constitutional Court ruled that the system of residence permits, which replicates the Soviet-era "propiska" system, is unconstitutional. Russia's 1993 Constitution gives citizens the right to choose their place of residence. Regional governments, however, have until now continued to restrict this freedom... MORE