Following a smooth docking on September 27, their respective crews yesterday continued to move thousands of pounds of cargo from the U.S. shuttle Atlantis onto the Russian space station Mir. A replacement for Mir's central computer, which has failed three times over the past three... MORE

Law enforcement officials from the U.S., Europe, and Latin America are sounding the alarm over what they say are increasingly close contacts between organized crime groups from Russia and Colombian drug traffickers. The Russian groups are reportedly acquiring cocaine for sale in Europe, and, in... MORE

Uzbek president Islam Karimov yesterday released Col. Gen. Rustam Ahmedov as defense minister and appointed Maj. Gen. Hikmatulla Tursunov in his place. Tursunov, 44, had been serving as commander of Uzbekistan's border troops, a component of the State Security Service. Ahmedov, who had been defense... MORE

Leaders of 32 Communist and nationalist parties and movements met in Moscow yesterday to plan an "autumn offensive" against the Yeltsin leadership. They included the Russian Communist Party, smaller and more radical Communist organizations such as "Working Russia," nationalist groups led by Sergei Baburin and... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin complained yesterday that, since reconvening for its autumn session on September 3, the lower house of the Russian parliament has rejected all the government's pending welfare cuts and dragged its feet on approving the government's draft 1998 federal budget and tax code.... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin acknowledged yesterday that talks between the federal government and Chechnya are "difficult." The talks were broken off over the weekend. (See Monitor, September 29) "They have their version of the agreement as a treaty between states, but this cannot be," the... MORE

Russian first deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov warned yesterday that Chechnya will become a center of "banditry and narco-business" if it is allowed to leave the Russian Federation. Should this occur, Nemtsov believes that Russia will have "not the slightest chance of controlling the situation."... MORE

As his lawyer had predicted (see Monitor, September 25), retired Russian navy captain Aleksandr Nikitin has been officially charged with treason -- for the fifth time. The Federal Security Service (FSB) has indicated that it has finally completed its investigations and a trial date will... MORE

The appointment of Boris Brevnov, chairman of Russia's United Energy Systems (UES), as president of the CIS Electrical Energy Council last week may presage an attempt to increase Russian control over the electrical energy systems of other CIS countries. On the other hand, such control... MORE

Belarusan president Alyaksandr Lukashenka's recent visit to Kazakstan illustrated the theory and reality of attempts at economic integration among CIS states. On the first day of his state visit in Almaty on September 23, Lukashenka told a press conference that the "Union of Four" customs... MORE