Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov, who under the Chechen constitution is head of both state and government, announced yesterday that he intends to launch a far-reaching government reorganization. (Russian agencies, December 9) Maskhadov has already agreed to share some of his powers with First Deputy Premier... MORE

The Republic of Bashkortostan is set for its first open clash with the federal authorities since it signed a power-sharing agreement with the Russian Federation in August of 1994, the Monitor's correspondent in the Volga region reports. At the end of last month, the republic... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin is expected shortly to sign a decree according to which the Ministry of Justice will report to him directly. (RTR, December 9) This will raise the status of the ministry and put it on a par with the "power ministries" which... MORE

Russia's "Big Four" (the president, the prime minister, and the speakers of the two houses of parliament) met yesterday to finalize the agenda for tomorrow's roundtable meeting, at which the issue of land reform was to have been discussed by President Boris Yeltsin and 25... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin was reportedly admitted to the hospital this morning, said to be suffering from a cold. (BBC, December 10) The news seems likely to derail tomorrow's planned roundtable between the president and representatives of political parties and trade unions (see below). Coming on... MORE

The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan has sentenced three former senior OPON officers -- headed by Elchin Amiraslanov -- to death, and 27 OPON and civilian codefendants to terms of forced labor ranging from nine to 15 years. The sentences, handed down on November 28, stem... MORE

Ukraine is not prepared at this time to sign the convention that bans anti-personnel land mines, Kyiv's delegate told the international conference just held in Ottawa, where many countries signed the convention. Ambassador Volodymyr Furkalo stated that Ukraine may sign the convention in the future,... MORE

With only 12 days left until the balloting in Lithuania's presidential election, parliament chairman and leader of the governing Fatherland Union, Vytautas Landsbergis, stands a distant third in public opinion surveys. However questionable their methodology may be, the surveys consistently find the Lithuanian-American ecologist Valdas... MORE

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee made public yesterday its latest additions, which include Tallinn and Riga, to the World Heritage List. The Committee termed the capitals of Estonia and Latvia "outstanding examples of mediaeval North European trading cities," with highly valuable nineteenth century additions. The... MORE

Yesterday's sixth anniversary of the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States passed with minimal official notice in Moscow and virtually none in the capitals of the other 11 member countries. Ukraine's former president Leonid Kravchuk -- who on December 8, 1991, joined with Russian... MORE