Russia's Duma passed on September 26 a resolution recommending that President Boris Yeltsin postpone the signing of a border agreement with Lithuania, pending revisions to the text. Specifically, the Duma insists on language that would preserve "Russia's right to the territory of Memel (Klaipeda)"; the... MORE

At a congress in Kyiv on September 27, the political movement Hromada elected former prime minister Pavlo Lazarenko as its leader and set up a committee to manage the movement's electoral campaign. Addressing the 450 delegates to the congress, Lazarenko vowed to fight President Leonid... MORE

Tajik president Imomali Rahmonov conferred on September 27 in Moscow with Defense Minister Igor Sergeev and Federal Security Service (FSB) director Nikolai Kovalev. They discussed the political situation in Tajikistan, "technical-military cooperation" between Russia and the Tajik government, and the implementation of military provisions of... MORE

The Russian government's extraordinary commission on tax collection has discovered that, of 40 tons of gold (worth $500 million) lent from state reserves to gold mines since 1992 to help finance their operations, only eight tons has been returned to the state treasury. The report... MORE

Former Chechen president Djohar Dudaev forbade Chechen athletes to take part in the 1992 Olympic Games under the Russian flag. Now Chechnya's national Olympic committee is asking for the republic to be allowed to join the International Olympic Committee in its own right. Russia has... MORE

The Russian Duma on September 26 overwhelmingly approved a statement urging President Boris Yeltsin to suspend his plans for reforming the armed forces until a federal law on the matter is passed. The legislators said that the plans made public so far had caused "bewilderment"... MORE

French president Jacques Chirac announced in Moscow on September 26 that his country's nuclear missiles are no longer aimed at Russia. He explained that this gesture was in response to President Boris Yeltsin's pledge earlier this year no longer to target NATO countries with Russian... MORE

Russia's Communist-dominated Duma has designated October 4 the "Day of Remembrance for Defenders of the Constitution," commemorating the events of October, 1993, when President Yeltsin dissolved parliament by force. The Duma also asked the prosecutor general to review the evidence to see whether there might... MORE

. Russian parliamentarian Grigory Yavlinsky says Boris Yeltsin would be within his legal rights to seek reelection when his present term expires in 2000 and that it is "entirely possible" that Yeltsin will do so. The constitution prescribes a maximum of two terms in office... MORE

Russian and American officials on September 26 signed two sets of arms control documents. The first -- on strategic nuclear arms reductions -- was meant to make it more likely that the Russian Duma will finally ratify the 1993 START II treaty. The second set... MORE