Russian news agencies report that a breakthrough was reached yesterday by Russian and Chechen government officials meeting at the Black Sea resort of Dagomys to fix the terms of transit of Caspian oil across Chechen territory. Chechen officials are said to have agreed to a... MORE

Aleksandr Shokhin, a moderate reformer, was yesterday elected leader of the parliamentary faction of the pro-government "Russia is Our Home"(NDR). (Itar-Tass, September 3) His new post has required Shokhin, 46, to resign from his arguably more influential job as first deputy speaker of the Duma.... MORE

New rules came into force yesterday banning journalists from the corridors of the Russian parliament. A statement said parliamentarians were unable to get any work done because they were "constantly pestered by reporters asking for interviews." Deputies also complained of being depicted in an unflattering... MORE

The Russian military's chief of armaments, Col. Gen. Anatoly Sitnov, predicted yesterday that the reform of Russia's military-industrial complex would reduce the number of defense enterprises from 1,600 to no more than 300. In the process, he said, two-thirds of the defense sector's current 2.7... MORE

The Russian Duma reconvened yesterday after its summer recess. High on its agenda for the fall session are the government's draft budget for 1998 and a new tax code that the government says is essential to bring government revenue and spending into balance by 1999.... MORE

Russian Television yesterday showed film of a public execution held in the center of Djohar-gala. (NTV, ORT, September 3) Several thousand onlookers watched as a young man and woman were shot dead. They had been found guilty of murder by one of Chechnya's new Shariat... MORE

In remarks yesterday at the conclusion of his four-day visit to Moscow, German president Roman Herzog said that he had purposely avoided detailed discussion on the restitution of World War II trophy art during his talks with Russian leaders. Herzog suggested that he had done... MORE

Russian defense minister Igor Sergeev yesterday gave cautious support to a proposal that would allow conscripts to choose some sort of alternative service rather than serving in the military. Sergeev was visiting St. Petersburg, where Mayor Vladimir Yakovlev hopes to turn his city into a... MORE

EU commissioner Hans van den Broek was quoted as telling a Moscow press conference last week that the European Union "stands for Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization." (Itar-Tass, August 29) The statement could be interpreted as a significant change in the EU's position... MORE

The Soros Foundation yesterday announced the closure of its branch in Belarus because of systematic pressure, punitive taxes and fines, and the seizure of its bank accounts by the authorities, all in violation of the Foundation's status as a charity. The Foundation stated that it... MORE