A leading Kazan newspaper, Vechernyaya Kazan, has suggested that the Tatarstani leadership may have an ulterior motive for denouncing Russia's new-format passports. There has been strong popular protest in Tatarstan over the fact that the documents are written only in Russian, sport the imperial Russian... MORE

Russian interior minister Anatoly Kulikov has accused Chechen field commander Emir Khattab of participating in terrorist acts in Dagestan in order to destabilize the situation in the republic. According to the newspaper Segodnya, the eight Dagestani policemen kidnapped this week were captured by the "Islamic... MORE

By virtue of a decision made by the commander of the group of Russian Interior Ministry (MVD) troops, the administrative regime on the border between Chechnya and Dagestan has been tightened. The action follows the bombing near the border of an automobile containing Russian servicemen,... MORE

Austrian chancellor Viktor Klima, together with a large delegation from Austria's business community, is in Moscow today for talks with Russian government leaders. In addition to the promotion of economic cooperation between the two countries, the talks are expected to focus on relations between Russia... MORE

Most Crimean residents are reported to have turned their clocks back this past weekend like the rest of Ukraine, ignoring a call by the peninsula's parliament to switch to Moscow time. Earlier, the decision of the Crimean parliament was overruled by the federal Justice Ministry... MORE

Russia and China are expected to issue a joint statement on relations and to sign several new cooperation agreements during Russian president Boris Yeltsin's November 9-11 visit to the cities of Beijing and Harbin, China's Foreign Ministry announced yesterday. (Itar-Tass, October 28) The fifth "Sino-Russia... MORE

President Islam Karimov has expressed his concern over the slow pace of the cotton harvest in Uzbekistan. As of October 23, some 3,360,718 tons of cotton (84 percent of the four million-ton goal) have been harvested in the country, largely through traditional hand-picking methods. Karimov... MORE

Interviewed in an Azerbaijani newspaper, Armenian prime minister Robert Kocharian took issue with President Levon Ter-Petrosian's recent theses on settling the Karabakh conflict. According to Kocharian, a "stage-by-stage settlement would simply be too dangerous" because it would require Karabakh to vacate occupied Azerbaijani territories in... MORE

Interviewed on the Sunday television program Pislyamova, President Leonid Kuchma told the country for the first time that he is going to run for reelection. Although he had insisted until very recently that he would run only if Ukraine's economic situation improves -- a doubtful... MORE

Under the framework of an officially sponsored Days of Ukrainian Culture, taking place in Russia from October 24-29, representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora met in Moscow for the second Congress of Ukrainians in Russia. The forum called for "national-cultural autonomy," understood as organizing the diaspora's... MORE