Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin failed today to attend a meeting of the government which he had been due to chair; his place was taken by First Deputy Premier Anatoly Chubais. According to unconfirmed reports, Chernomyrdin has been taken to the Barvikha sanitarium near Moscow,... MORE

The Russian parliament reconvened yesterday for the first meeting of its spring session. Its first action was to reject a call by Communist deputy Aleksandr Mikhailov that it should demand a report from the Kremlin on President Boris Yeltsin's health. Deputies seemed reassured by yesterday's... MORE

Kazakhstan's president, Nursultan Nazarbaev, has made his strongest attack yet on nepotism and corruption. In a January 7 speech devoted to his "Kazakhstan -- 2030" program, Nazarbaev vowed to block off opportunities for the abuse of public office for private gain. He said the state... MORE

In a radio address on January 12, Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze elaborated on his recent proposal for an international peace-enforcement operation in Abkhazia. Without repudiating Russian-mediated negotiations or direct talks with the Abkhaz leadership, Shevardnadze stressed that "since the negotiating process has failed for almost... MORE

The government of Kazakhstan and the Indonesia-based Central Asia Petroleum (CAP) signed on January 9 an agreement to prospect and develop 15 oil and gas fields held by the Kazakh company Mangistaumunaigaz. As reported yesterday by Kazakh officials, CAP will hold 60 percent, the state... MORE

Visiting Belarus on January 12-13, Russian justice minister Sergei Stepashin urged President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and other officials to set a five-year time frame for unifying the legislation of Belarus with that of Russia; and, as part of the process, to merge the Justice Ministry of... MORE

According to Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Armenian foreign minister Alexander Arzumanian has urged Iran to become a mediator between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the conflict over Karabakh. During talks with the Iranian ambassador in Yerevan, Arzumanian was cited as saying that Iran's... MORE

Russia's state-run Zarubezhneft oil company announced on January 12 that seven Russian oil companies had signed contracts to buy nearly 30 million barrels of oil from Iraq under the UN's "oil-for-food" program. Another four Russian companies will reportedly sign similar contracts soon under the UN... MORE

Aburashid Zakaev, president of Chechnya's National Bank, told the Russian press on January 5 that the new, redenominated rubles, whose introduction in the rest of Russia began on January 1, had not been supplied to Chechnya. (Russian agencies, January 5) While this may be nothing... MORE

Russia's Foreign Ministry yesterday called on Iraq to cooperate fully with UN weapons inspectors, but also indicated that Moscow would seek a resolution of tensions between the UN and Baghdad through a process of dialogue. That stance, which combines calls for Iraqi authorities to end... MORE