Russian president Boris Yeltsin departed this morning for Krasnoyarsk, where he will hold two days of informal talks with Japanese prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto. In the runup to the unprecedented and much anticipated meeting, Kremlin sources have tended to emphasize economic issues and the opportunity... MORE

At a two-day meeting in Tbilisi, Presidents Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine and Eduard Shevardnadze of Georgia, together with their respective defense ministers, agreed on measures to expand security cooperation between their countries. They decided that Ukraine will give Georgia, gratis, "several modern naval cutters," associated... MORE

Senior Moldovan officials told the Monitor today that Russian Duma chairman Gennady Seleznev, who completed an extensive visit to Moldova yesterday, had requested ratification of a Russian-Moldovan protocol on mutual military assistance as a condition for the Duma's ratification of a Russian-Moldovan political treaty. That... MORE

In an October 27 broadcast to the country, Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze disclosed that he had presented a comprehensive indictment of Russian policies toward Georgia at the closed meeting of CIS countries' presidents. Shevardnadze said that he asked Russian president Boris Yeltsin to explain why... MORE

The commanders of the Russian and American strategic nuclear missile forces have agreed to an exchange program under which missile personnel from one country will work with their counterparts in the other for one week. General Eugene Habiger, the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command,... MORE

Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin used a meeting yesterday with his visiting Austrian counterpart, Viktor Klima, to reiterate Russia's opposition to NATO enlargement and its commitment to the creation of a Europe "free of blocs and dividing lines." Chernomyrdin placed his NATO remarks in the... MORE

Following the trend in western markets, Russian stock prices jumped nearly 30 percent yesterday, after falling 20 percent the previous day. Traders say they expect Russian stocks to regain all the losses they suffered during the recent turmoil on world equity markets. (UPI, October 29)... MORE

Ukraine's cabinet of ministers has approved the creation of the Ukrainian Air Transport Company, a civilian cargo carrier that will use 140 planes and 35 helicopters of Ukraine's Air Force. Most of these aircraft have ended their military service life. The Defense Ministry will use... MORE

Russian first deputy prime minister Anatoly Chubais rounded up a three-day visit to London yesterday and returned to Moscow after meetings with Prime Minister Tony Blair, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, and Bank of England governor Eddie George. Chubais was to keen to talk to British... MORE

Although Moscow has made clear that it regards Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov's current visit to the Middle East as an effort to raise Russia's diplomatic presence in the region, a top Jordanian government official said yesterday that Primakov had presented no new initiatives for reviving... MORE