Education is another central element in President Nursultan Nazarbaev's "Kazakhstan--2030" program, about which he spoke at length in his January 7 speech, delivered at Almaty's Kazakhstan State University. (See yesterday's Monitor) While not making any new promises, Nazarbaev reminded his audience of other current policy... MORE

Armenian prime minister Robert Kocharian told a Yerevan briefing yesterday that an Armenian Security Council session, held on January 7-8, resulted in a complete deadlock over policy regarding the Karabakh conflict. Karabakh's president Arkady Gukasian, prime minister Leonard Petrosian, and defense minister Samvel Babaian participated... MORE

The Ukrainian parliament yesterday debated and ratified with some non-binding qualifications the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership, signed by Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kuchma in Kyiv last May 29. The document belongs in the category of goodneighborly relations treaties, and took five years... MORE

A brief news release on January 13 announced that the missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov had finished its sea trials in the Baltic Sea and was to depart yesterday for its home base in the Northern Fleet. (RIA Novosti, January 13) The Navy brass had reason... MORE

Little progress has been made of late in reorganizing the armed forces in accordance with the program announced last year by Russian defense minister, Marshal Igor Sergeev. At the same time, new senior military appointments appear to have been put on hold. Gen. Petr Deinekin,... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin will henceforth review personally every death sentence passed in Russia, regardless of whether the condemned person has appealed for clemency or not. This is the effect of a change to the Code of Criminal Procedure that Yeltsin signed into law on January... MORE

A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed yesterday that Moscow has stated its strong and continued opposition to any use of force in the latest standoff between Baghdad and the UN (See yesterday's Monitor) According to Valery Nesterushkin, that message was conveyed by Foreign Minister Yevgeny... MORE

Following his meeting on Wednesday in Grozny with Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov, Russian Security Council secretary Ivan Rybkin announced that Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin may be the next Russian leader to visit Chechnya. Meanwhile, Rybkin said, a joint group of ten people is being set... MORE

Sverdlovsk governor Eduard Rossel says he was the target of a car bomb that went off yesterday just as he was leaving his house near Yekaterinburg to go to work. No one was injured. Rossel told a TV interviewer he was sure it was an... MORE

According to the stock market index developed by Interfax's Center for Economic Analysis, Russian securities markets posted whopping 130 percent growth (in nominal ruble terms) during 1997. (Russian agencies, January 4) This increase, which occurred despite the downward trend that took hold following the collapse... MORE