Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak will pay a two-day visit to Moscow at the end of this month, it was announced yesterday in Cairo. According to Egypt's ambassador to Russia, talks between the two sides will focus on bilateral relations, including economic ties, as well as... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin's chief spokesman, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, yesterday contradicted the president by stating that the question of freeing Russian ORT correspondent Pavel Sheremet from a Belarusan jail is a proper matter for Russian-Belarusan discussions and will "not [be] removed from the agenda until Sheremet is... MORE

The Chechen authorities have postponed the public executions, scheduled for today, of two people who had been found guilty of murder by one of Chechnya's new Islamic courts. (Itar-Tass, September 10) Last week's public executions of a man and a woman in Djohar-gala provoked a... MORE

A report just issued by the World Bank predicts that, by the year 2020, five new economic giants will dominate the global economy. They are Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and Russia. Between them, they will account for one half of the world's workforce. The World... MORE

French foreign minister Hubert Vedrine completed a two-day official visit to Russia on September 8. During a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Yevgeny Primakov, the two discussed bilateral ties, the Middle East peace process, Bosnia, and Karabakh. In Paris on September 8 it was announced... MORE

Following talks in Moscow yesterday with his Belgian counterpart, Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov told reporters that Moscow does not oppose the entry of newly independent states into European economic structures. Primakov contrasted that with membership in NATO, which he said Russia still strongly opposes.... MORE

Estonian foreign minister Toomas Ilves yesterday stated that it is impossible to predict when Russia will finally sign the border agreement with Estonia "as long as the Russian side does not abide by its promises... Last December [Russian foreign minister Yevgeny] Primakov promised that the... MORE

The staff exercise Baltic Trainer 97 began yesterday at Lithuania's Rukla military base. More than 100 staff officers from the three Baltic states, the U.S., Britain, and the Nordic countries are taking part in the exercise. It involves the planning of an international peacekeeping operation... MORE

Tajikistan's Internal Affairs Ministry stated today that four bombs exploded overnight in Dushanbe on the avenue leading from the airport to the hotel reserved for the opposition leaders scheduled to arrive shortly. (Itar-Tass, September 10) The explosions would seem to provide a convenient pretext for... MORE

After months of negotiations, Russia and Chechnya yesterday reached agreement on the transport of "early" Caspian oil from Baku across Chechen territory to Russia's Black Sea port at Novorossiisk. The agreement was signed in Moscow by Russian first deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov and the... MORE