Two Belarusan air defense units, designated as brigades, yesterday began a six-day exercise at Russia's Ashuluk firing range in the Astrakhan oblast of the North Caucasus military district. Two other Belarusan air defense brigades conducted a similar exercise at Ashuluk last week, where they fired... MORE

U.S. senator John McCain (Republican from Arizona) was recently quoted by the press in Tbilisi as saying that, in terms of progress in economic reform, Georgia "surpasses the other CIS countries". (Russian agencies, August 12) McCain's remarks, which were made in the context of a... MORE

Tajik government forces yesterday continued their offensive against the 1st army brigade of the mutinous Col. Mahmud Hudoiberdiev. Both camps include paramilitary units from rival factions of the former Popular Front. Government officials claimed that the rebels are falling back toward the Uzbek and the... MORE

Mikhail Manyevich, deputy governor of St. Petersburg and head of the state privatization committee in Russia's second city, was assassinated at 7 o'clock this morning when the car in which he was riding to work came under a hail of gunfire on the Nevsky Prospekt.... MORE

Former Chechen president Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, who lost to Aslan Maskhadov in January's presidential election, set up his own political party over the weekend. The aim of the new party is to establish a confederation of North Caucasian republics free of Russian control. Yandarbiev accuses Maskhadov... MORE

In its annual report, released last week, the Congressional Research Service said that the U.S. in 1996 racked up $11.3 billion in total arms sales -- more than double the amount of Russia, its nearest competitor. The advantage enjoyed by the U.S. accrued especially from... MORE

Tajik government forces yesterday and today continued attacking the brigade of rebel Col. Mahmud Hudoiberdiev, whose main forces are now located in two districts abutting Uzbekistan. Supporters of ousted customs chief Yakub Salimov and other veteran Popular Front combatants support Hudoberdiev's forces in the fighting.... MORE

Presidents Boris Yeltsin of Russia and Aslan Maskhadov of Chechnya met in Moscow today for the first time since they signed a peace treaty earlier this year. They hoped to resolve the political differences that last month provoked Maskhadov to suspend all negotiations between the... MORE

A local paper reported last week that the merger of the Strategic Rocket Forces (SRF) and the Military Space Troops had been put on hold. These two organizations -- as well as the missile and space defense assets of the Air Defense Troops -- were... MORE

Duma Defense Committee chairman Gen. Lev Rokhlin has in recent days sharpened his criticism of the Yeltsin government and continued his effort to build an association of Russian military and defense industry personnel. Although he had claimed earlier that his fledgling movement is non-political, Rokhlin... MORE