United Tajik Opposition chief of staff Dovlat Usmon yesterday clarified the UTO leadership's reasons for "indefinitely" postponing the arrival of its delegation in Dushanbe. The two buildings prepared by the government for the UTO delegation and its armed escort are "unsuitable from the military-technical point... MORE

A groundbreaking treaty between Russia and Kazakhstan came into effect on August 18. (Russian news agencies, August 14) Its aim is to stem the flow of outmigration of "Russian-speakers" from Kazakhstan by reassuring members of the country's non-Kazakh population that they will be able to... MORE

One policeman was killed and another was wounded when their car was ambushed as it patrolled the border between Stavropol krai and Chechnya yesterday. (Russian agencies, August 26) Yeltsin Aide to Remain Earth-Bound?

While Russian space officials yesterday provided additional details of Russian Defense Council secretary Yury Baturin's planned space trip to the troubled orbiting Mir station, Baturin himself seemed less positive. He indicated that President Boris Yeltsin had "shown interest" in Baturin's earlier general aerospace training but... MORE

Indonesia's minister of industry said on August 25 that his country would like to pay for Russian military aircraft at least in part by supplying Russia with raw materials and such consumer goods as jeans, toothpaste, and soap. Earlier this month Indonesia announced its intention... MORE

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Valery Nesterushkin yesterday criticized two recent decisions of Transdniester's leadership: to establish a "customs territory and customs borders of the Dniester republic" and to create a commission for the "delimitation and demarcation of Dniester republic's state borders." The decisions "evoke serious... MORE

Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze's press secretary yesterday expressed surprise at media reports from Kiev that quoted visiting defense minister Vardiko Nadibaidze as saying Georgia had dropped its claim to part of the former Soviet Black Sea Fleet. (See yesterday's Monitor) Vahtang Abashidze said that Nadibaidze's... MORE

The government of Kazakhstan yesterday announced that it has canceled its contract with the Canadian company Central Asian Goldfields concerning the joint venture Gold Pools. Almaty holds the Canadian partner responsible for the venture's declining output and mounting debts. It also disagrees with the Canadian... MORE

The United Tajik Opposition leadership today postponed "indefinitely" its arrival in Dushanbe for the National Reconciliation Commission's inaugural session, which had been rescheduled to open August 31. Opposition chief of staff Dovlat Usmon today termed unacceptable the government-prepared accommodations for the opposition delegation and its... MORE

Dagestan's parliament yesterday confirmed Khizri Shikhsaidov as the new head of the republic's government. Shikhsaidov, whose candidacy was proposed by Magomedali Magomedov, the head of Dagestan's State Council, replaces Abdurazak Mirzabekov. Mirzabekov was removed on August 20 after ten years as prime minister. Shikhsaidov, by... MORE