Presidents Boris Yeltsin of Russia, Alyaksandr Lukashenka of Belarus, Nursultan Nazarbaev of Kazakhstan, and Askar Akaev of Kyrgyzstan held yesterday in Moscow a meeting of the Interstate Council of the CIS Customs Union (CU). Those four countries comprise its membership. (See Monitor, October 22) Following... MORE

Saying that a crisis in relations between Russia and Libya is slowly being overcome, Russia's Ministry of Emergencies announced yesterday that the two countries have agreed to increase cooperation in the oil and gas industries, as well as in transport, communications, and nuclear energy. The... MORE

Experts from Russia's Federal Border Service claimed on October 21 that Russia loses $2 billion annually because of illegal fishing in its waters, and that illegal export of crab to Japan costs Russia more than $500 million in 1996 alone. On the same day, a... MORE

Presidents Boris Yeltsin of Russia, Alyaksandr Lukashenka of Belarus, Nursultan Nazarbaev of Kazakhstan, and Askar Akaev of Kyrgyzstan are meeting in Moscow today. They hope to "break the deadlock" over the four countries' Customs Union, Yeltsin's foreign policy coordinator and chief spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky announced... MORE

U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright and secretary of defense William Cohen said in testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday that the Clinton Administration has lowered its estimate of the costs involved in enlargement of NATO. The original U.S. estimate -- $27-$35 billion --... MORE

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady Tarasov said yesterday that there is "increasing concern" in Moscow that the U.S. might be developing an anti-satellite capability. He was commenting on an October 20 experiment in which the U.S. Army's Mid-Infra-Red Advanced Chemical Laser (MIRACL) at White Sands,... MORE

Chechen first deputy prime minister Movladi Udugov said that a number of foreign countries -- mainly Islamic ones -- are ready to recognize Chechnya's independence "tomorrow," but declined to specify which countries he was referring to. Udugov also said that Chechnya was keen for Russia... MORE

The Communist faction in the Russian Duma decided yesterday to withdraw the parliamentary vote of no-confidence in the government that it and its nationalist and agrarian allies had been threatening to hold today. It did so after President Boris Yeltsin promised to consult parliament leaders... MORE

A Nigerian military spokesman yesterday said that the military junta in Sierra Leone had ordered 3 jet fighters from Ukraine. He also repeated an earlier charge that Ukrainian ships are supplying the junta in defiance of a UN economic embargo. Nigeria leads a West African... MORE

A Russian deputy foreign minister reiterated yesterday that, while Russia's strategic friendship with China is of great importance to Moscow, the two countries have no intention of forming a military or political alliance. That same point was made by another top Russian diplomat on October... MORE