According to the newspaper Segodnya, rumors are rife in Chechnya that President Aslan Maskhadov may not return from his trip to the U.S. The newspaper speculates that the rumors are being fueled by Maskhadov's desire to test the resolve of the Chechen parliament, which has... MORE

The Saratov oblast Duma yesterday approved in the second reading a groundbreaking law "On Land" which will, for the first time, sanction the free sale of agricultural land. Voting in the 35- member Duma was 26 for, three against. (RTR, ORT, November 12) The bill... MORE

The plot thickened in Primorsky krai yesterday as five deputy mayors of the capital city, Vladivostok, threatened to resign. They told President Yeltsin in an open letter that they were forced to consider resignation because krai governor Yevgeny Nazdratenko is: "setting the territory against the... MORE

First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Chubais is reported to have expressed "dismay" in a conversation with journalists yesterday at rumors that Boris Berezovsky, the billionaire financier whose expulsion from the Security Council was engineered by Chubais only a week ago, may be appointed deputy prime... MORE

Russian defense minister Igor Sergeev on November 10 denied that the Russian-built MiG-29s recently sold to the U.S. by Moldova were capable of carrying nuclear weapons. (See Monitor, November 5) He said that the planes had been stripped of the relevant hardware and wiring in... MORE

A recent series of high-level visits and commentaries underscore the changing nature of U.S.-Uzbek relations in 1997. Last week, U.S. ambassador-at-large Stephen Sestanovich met with Uzbek president Islam Karimov. The meeting was part of an eight-nation tour of the region by Sestanovich aimed at raising... MORE

This past weekend was no ordinary one in Kazakhstan. On the night of November 7 a military plane bearing the country's national symbols -- flag, national emblem, and presidential standards -- left Almaty for the opening ceremony of the country's new capital, Akmola. (KTK Commercial... MORE

Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin yesterday signed a decision authorizing Russian border guards and customs services to allow Abkhaz fruit and other produce to be imported to Russia, based on certain quotas, from November, 1997, through March of next year. Russian government agencies are to... MORE

The Milli Majlis yesterday ratified the contract between the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), Chevron Oil of the U.S., and Total of France to develop the Apsheron oilfield (hitherto known as Zeinalabdin Tagiev) on Azerbaijan's Caspian shelf. Signed on August 1 in Washington during... MORE

More than 100 representatives of the Belarusan intelligentsia, of opposition parties and groups, and of independent public organizations signed yesterday in Minsk the "Charter 97," an appeal for the restoration of the rule of law and for observance of human rights and civil liberties. Signers... MORE