Russian president Boris Yeltsin yesterday told reporters that he feels "indignant" and expects Belarus's "president Lukashenka to give explanations" concerning the detention of a three-man Russian Public Television (ORT) crew, which includes ORT's Minsk bureau chief, Pavel Sheremet. Russia's Foreign Ministry on July 29 issued... MORE

The third round of talks, mediated by the European Union, between President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's government and the leaders of Belarus's legitimate parliament was suspended on its second day yesterday. The talks never overcame differences over a basic procedural issue -- namely, the definition of the... MORE

A convoy of some 550 vehicles transporting an estimated 10,000 tons of pure alcohol, apparently to be unloaded in the North Ossetian capital of Vladikavkaz, was stopped at the border between Georgia and the Russian Federation on July 29. According to Russian border service officials,... MORE

Workers in Volgograd, 620 miles southeast of Moscow, staged a warning strike yesterday to protest proposals to pay their wage arrears in vegetables. They say they will hold a full-scale strike if the wages are not paid in cash within a week. (Itar-Tass, AP, July... MORE

Nostalgic locals met in the Volga city of Saratov on July 24 to set up a regional branch of the "Hands Off Lenin!" association. The Monitor's correspondent in the region says participants drafted a letter protesting President Boris Yeltsin's proposal to remove Lenin's body from... MORE

Tokyo police yesterday obtained an arrest warrant on a Russian national of Asian origin whom they accuse of having masqueraded for over 30 years as a Japanese citizen while spying for Moscow. The suspect, who was married to a Japanese woman and worked at a... MORE

Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov has suspended all negotiations with Russia until Moscow approves a plan for restoring Chechnya's economy. Maskhadov accuses Moscow of reneging on earlier agreements of financial support. He has instructed his government to deliver to Moscow a reconstruction plan drawn up in... MORE

Moscow has already rejected another of Maskhadov's recent initiatives. The Chechen president announced that he had ordered his government to draft an agreement for the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and Chechnya and the opening of embassies in Moscow and Djohar-gala. (Russian agencies, July... MORE

Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin once lamented that every time a privatization auction is held in Russia, the result is a big row. And a row is still going on over last week's auction of a quarter of the shares in Russia's Svyazinvest telecoms giant. Yesterday,... MORE

Diplomatic momentum between Moscow and Tokyo continued to build yesterday, as Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov agreed in talks with his Japanese counterpart, Yukihiko Ikeda, that the two countries would strive to improve relations based on principles set out last week by Japanese prime minister... MORE