President Boris Yeltsin yesterday told the Swedish parliament that Russia would, by the end of next year, "unilaterally cut its armed forces in northwest Russia by more than 40 percent." But as was the case with his remarks a day earlier about nuclear arms cuts... MORE

An official visit to Moscow by Yugoslav federal prime minister Radoje Kontic concluded yesterday with the signing of a package of agreements. They included the granting by Russia of a $150 million state credit to Yugoslavia for the purchase of Russian goods; a memorandum on... MORE

Bulgarian foreign minister Nadezhda Mikhailova wound up two days of talks in Moscow on December 2 during which the two sides sought to defuse tensions over Sofia's increasingly pro-Western orientation and, in particular, its aspirations to join NATO. (See Monitor, October 9) Russian foreign minister... MORE

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday sharply condemned alleged Russian supplies of missile technology to Iran, and warned that bilateral Russian-Israeli relations could be harmed if Moscow's cooperation with Tehran continues. The strongly-worded rebuke was contained in a message from Netanyahu to Russian president Boris... MORE

Russia's Central Bank will soon order a further increase in its refinancing rate, Bank chairman Sergei Dubinin said yesterday. The refinancing rate was raised from 21 to 28 percent on November 11 and Lombard rates went up to 36 percent on December 1, but the... MORE

Russia and the U.S. yesterday signed an agreement in Brussels aimed at increasing military exchanges between the two countries. The accord, signed by U.S. defense secretary William Cohen and Russian defense minister Igor Sergeev, is part of a broader effort by Washington to bolster Russia's... MORE

As temperatures in northern Kazakhstan drop to well below freezing, the Republic prepares itself for what promises to be another harsh winter. Indeed, the Deputy Head of the northern Kostanay oblast announced that the situation in the Republic is catastrophic and that Akmola had "only... MORE

The International Monetary Fund's Board of Directors on November 27 finally approved the release of two tranches worth $103 million of Ukraine's $542 million stand-by credit. (Russian agencies, November 27) Although the IMF announced that these funds had been released because of recent progress made... MORE

Recent financial developments in Ukraine suggest that some of the problems currently afflicting East Asian finance and industry may also be infecting Ukraine. These problems are related to the outflow of speculative capital, which last month forced the Ukrainian authorities to raise interest rates dramatically,... MORE

Data recently released by Russia's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations shows that, for the first three quarters of 1997, Russia's trade surplus is down slightly from the same period in 1996. (Russian agencies, November 25) Still, Russia's trade surplus at the end of... MORE