Russian interior minister Anatoly Kulikov met last week in Nalchik, capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, with republic law-enforcement officers. Kabardino-Balkaria was chosen as the site for the meeting because the republic is exposed to all of the consequences of the tensions in other parts of the north... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin has left First Deputy Premier Anatoly Chubais in charge of the economy while Yeltsin, accompanied by First Deputy Premier Boris Nemtsov, is in Sweden and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin is in Minsk. The Financial Times reports today that Chubais has asked... MORE

As many as 67 miners are believed to have died yesterday following a methane gas explosion at a mine in Novokuznetsk in Russia's Kuzbass. This is the worst mine disaster in the region's history. The bodies of 63 miners have so far been recovered; another... MORE

Tajikistan's Security Ministry announced yesterday that Rizvon Sodirov has been killed, and that about half of his 80 fighters have been killed or captured in the course of an operation conducted by government troops in and around Dushanbe. Those still at large include Rizvon's two... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin has once again used a foreign visit to announce a dramatic arms control initiative, and once again he has been quickly "corrected" by his staff. This time, the location was Stockholm and the subject was strategic nuclear arms. Yeltsin created a... MORE

Russia was admitted on November 25 into the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation organization. The unanimous vote by APEC's 18 member states took place last week in Vancouver during the organization's annual summit meeting. Russian leaders applauded the decision, and Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov described it as... MORE

A study published by the U.S. Congressional Research Service argues that few units in Russia's conventional forces are combat ready and that growing politicization could lead to a military coup. The study also points to rapidly declining levels of men and armaments and estimates that... MORE

The northern region of Pavlodar boasts some of Kazakhstan's key strategic industries, such as the country's only aluminum factory (Alyouminii Kazakhstana), its sole chrome factory (Kazakhchrome), and one of the country's two oil refineries (Pavlodar Oil Refinery, or NPZ). The months of November and December... MORE

Although Ukraine has been widely criticized for its slow pace of bank and enterprise restructuring (compared to Russia and the Central European countries), a report recently issued by the Association of Ukrainian Banks (AUB) suggests that important progress with banking reform is being made. It... MORE

An American businessman, Richard L. Bliss, was arrested in southern Russia on November 25 and is being held on charges of espionage, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said yesterday. An FSB spokesman said that Bliss is accused of using satellite receivers, illegally brought into Russia,... MORE