According to official data released by the CIS Interstate Statistical Committee, Kyrgyzstan during the first nine months of the year reported a whopping 45.9 percent increase in industrial production (relative to the same period in 1996). (Russian agencies, October 27) This corresponded to growth in... MORE

The Russian Duma on October 31 ratified the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention. The treaty still needs to be ratified by the Federal Assembly and then signed by President Boris Yeltsin, but these two steps are considered to be just formalities. This means that Russia will... MORE

Two days of informal talks between Russian president Boris Yeltsin and Japanese prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, which concluded yesterday in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, were hailed by both sides as historic and as a major milestone in efforts to improve bilateral relations. Amid bear... MORE

As Russia prepares later this week to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the October Revolution, hard-line Communists gathered in Moscow over the weekend in an attempt to set up a single party along the lines of the Soviet Communist Party. (NTV, November 2) A two-day... MORE

President Yeltsin last week signed power-sharing agreements between the Russian Federation and five Russian oblasts: Astrakhan, Kirov, Murmansk, Ulyanovsk, and Yaroslavl. (RTR, October 30) This brings to 35 (out of 89) the number of Russian regions signing such treaties. At the signing ceremony, Yeltsin said... MORE

Interviewed yesterday on Russian TV, Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin denied rumors of a split within the cabinet and, specifically, between himself and his two first deputies, Anatoly Chubais and Boris Nemtsov. "There is no conflict," Chernomyrdin said. "I would not permit that, nor would... MORE

Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin met on October 31 with Primorsky krai governor Yevgeny Nazdratenko and afterwards authorized payment of quarterly subsidies to Primorsky and Khabarovsk krais to guarantee the functioning of central heating systems in the two Far Eastern regions. (Russian TV, October 31)... MORE

In a report published today, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) predicts that 1997 will be the first year of pan-regional economic growth in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Many of the countries in the region have already recorded economic growth,... MORE

The International Monetary Fund announced last week that it was delaying payment of the latest $700 million tranche of its $10.1 billion loan to Russia. The reason is the Russian government's failure to improve tax collection. The IMF said the delayed tranche may be paid... MORE

Azerbaijan's first president, Abulfaz Elchibey, returned yesterday to Baku after more than four years of internal exile in his native village Keleki (Nakhichevan). Elchibey has announced plans to run in the upcoming presidential election against the incumbent Haidar Aliev. The former president is the elected... MORE