"Russian democrats, their Western sponsors, and Belarusan radicals have joined forces against Belarus, Lukashenka, and the Russia-Belarus Union," says Alyaksandr Lukashenka in yesterday's issue of the Russian Communist newspaper Pravda-5. According to the Belarusan president, the Russian media's "information war" against him stems from resentment... MORE

According to returns issued yesterday, Arkady Gukasian has won Karabakh's presidential election, held on September 1. Gukasian, foreign minister of the unrecognized republic, received almost 90 percent of the votes cast; the turnout was 85 percent. International organizations ignored the election because of Karabakh's unrecognized... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin confirmed yesterday that he will not run for reelection when his current term expires in 2000. (Russian and western agencies, September 1) The announcement came as no surprise, since Yeltsin is restricted to two terms under Russia's constitution. But it heightened... MORE

Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin yesterday described the Russian economy as "on the brink of growth" after nearly a decade of decline. Chernomyrdin has said this before and been proved wrong, but economists say that this time there are real signs that the recession is ending.... MORE

The director of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) told reporters yesterday that a "hotline" set up by the agency back in June had yielded "staggering" results. Nikolai Kovalev said that some 80 calls received on the special line had been worth following up. He also... MORE

A top Russian government official on August 28 dismissed U.S. suspicions -- voiced also by Norway -- that Russia had conducted an underground nuclear test on August 16 at its Novaya Zemlya test site. Atomic Energy Minister Viktor Mikhailov said that the seismic event detected... MORE

During two days of talks in Tehran over the weekend Russian and Iranian diplomats confirmed their intention to continue strengthening bilateral ties. Both sides called for increased trade, and detailed discussions were reportedly held on the latest developments in Tajikistan and Afghanistan, as well as... MORE

Defense Minister Igor Sergeev announced yesterday that the government had met President Yeltsin's September 1 deadline to pay the back wages owed to the military and civilian personnel working for the Defense Ministry. However, he said that the last 200 billion rubles of the total... MORE

The Russian Duma will reconvene tomorrow (September 3) after its summer recess. It has already scheduled a debate on the draft 1998 budget for October 10-11. Also on the Duma's agenda is the draft tax code, which has already been approved in the first reading... MORE

High on the Duma's agenda is the controversial law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations," which President Yeltsin vetoed in July. A special commission set up by Yeltsin to hammer out a compromise met throughout August and its proposals are now on Yeltsin's desk.... MORE