Russian defense minister Igor Sergeev is in Maastricht, The Netherlands, for an informal two-day gathering of NATO defense chiefs. The Defense Ministers of the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland are also there. Yesterday, Sergeev and NATO officials each tried to put their own spin on... MORE

Addressing the UN General Assembly, Tajik president Imomali Rahmonov praised the joint efforts of Russia and Iran in bringing about the signing of recent agreements between the Tajik government and opposition and in monitoring the agreements' implementation. (Itar-Tass, September 30) The foreign ministers of Russia... MORE

Russia has withdrawn all of its eighty officials from Chechnya after Vice-President Aslan Maskhadov threatened to expel them by force. The row broke out when Russian officials refused to allow a plane carrying the vice president to fly out of Chechnya, saying Arsanov had refused... MORE

Maverick military commander Salman Raduev was seriously wounded when his car hit a mine in Grozny. Raduev's life is said not to be in danger but one of his bodyguards was killed and Raduev suffered burns and shrapnel wounds. This was the fourth attempt on... MORE

Low turnout invalidated elections in all but 32 of St. Petersburg's 111 electoral districts this past weekend. Citywide turnout was only 18 percent, despite a last-minute TV appeal by city governor Vladimir Yakovlev and an emergency extension of the voting hours. Deputies elected in the... MORE

As part of its continuing campaign to try to discredit Russian first deputy prime minister Anatoly Chubais, the daily newspaper Nezavisimaya gazeta on September 26 published a letter allegedly sent from U.S. deputy treasury secretary Larry Summers to Chubais in April of this year in... MORE

The press service of Russia's Defense Ministry announced on September 26 that a coordinating council has been created to monitor information related to Russia's military reform effort. The council, comprised of representatives of the Defense Ministry and General Staff, is headed by General Staff deputy... MORE

Gen. Anatoly Krivolapov has been named to succeed Gen. Leonid Shevtsov as the senior Russian military officer at the headquarters of NATO's Supreme Allied Commander in Europe (SACEUR). Krivolapov had been deputy head of the operations directorate of the Russian General Staff. One of his... MORE

Georgian army, interior, state security, and border troops, as well as naval and air force units, are holding joint exercises in Western Georgia from September 27 through October 11. Commanded by Defense Minister Vardiko Nadibaidze and involving more than 10,000 soldiers, the exercises are aimed... MORE

Over the past two weeks a hyper-active President Boris Yeltsin has lashed out right and left, giving rise to speculation that a major shift in economic policy is taking place. Two weeks ago, Yeltsin called in the bankers for a stiff talking-to, and pledged to... MORE