Interviewed by Armenia's official news agency, the influential Moscow foreign policy expert Andranik Migranian warned against a "danger of Daytonization" in the resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. (In Russian analysts' terminology, Daytonization implies--as in Bosnia--a settlement shaped primarily by Western powers, proceeding from their interests... MORE

Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma has announced that Ukraine is able and willing to send a peacekeeping unit to the Transdniester conflict theater. Kuchma was speaking at a news conference following a telephone call from Moldovan president Petru Lucinschi, who confirmed that both he and Transdniester... MORE

It is widely assumed that, with the collapse of central planning, the padding and manipulation of economic statistics is a thing of the past. Alas, that is far from the case, according to World Bank economists Misha Belkindas and Olga Ivanova, who spoke at the... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin met yesterday with newly appointed finance minister Mikhail Zadornov. (RTR, November 24) Zadornov, 34, is a respected economist and member of the Duma. Until he joined the government last week, he belonged to the Yabloko faction, the bloc of 46 deputies... MORE

The recent voyage of a Russian nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine across the Pacific to the west coast of the U.S., during which it allegedly shadowed three U.S. aircraft carriers, has generated some Cold War rhetoric on both sides of the Atlantic. According to a weekend... MORE

During his visit to Baku, Maskhadov met with Azerbaijani president Haidar Aliev. The two reportedly held detailed tete-a-tete talks on regional security, oil pipelines, and U.S. attitudes toward the Caucasus region as a whole. (Turan, November 24) Former Russian Defense Minister Awaits New Job.

Former defense minister Pavel Grachev claimed yesterday that President Boris Yeltsin had ordered his chief of staff earlier this year to find Grachev "a serious position in the civil service." Grachev, who said that he hoped the directive would be carried out before the end... MORE

Interviewed last night on Russian TV, the leader of the pro-government "Russia is Our Home" faction in the parliament, Aleksandr Shokhin, said that the process of re-shuffling the Russian government may be "far from complete." It is quite possible, he said, that the ousting of... MORE

Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov returned to Grozny yesterday, ending a month-long absence that included visits to Turkey, the U.S. and, over the past few days, to Azerbaijan. He expressed satisfaction with his trip, saying he had succeeded in persuading foreign interlocutors that there will be... MORE

Deputies of the forcibly dissolved parliament and supporters of the Popular Front demonstrated yesterday in Minsk on the first anniversary of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's referendum to change the constitution. The authority's "preliminary count" indicated that some 4,000 had taken part in the procession -- a... MORE