Prime Minister Andris Skele yesterday demanded the resignation of Transport Minister Vilis Kristopans, found in violation of anti-corruption laws by a General Prosecutor's investigation. The move opens a fifth vacancy in the cabinet, following the recent ouster of the ministers of agriculture, health, and culture... MORE

Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze yesterday completed a five-day official visit to the U.S., during which he conferred with President Bill Clinton, senior State and Defense Department officials, Congressional leaders, and the managements of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Shevardnadze also spoke at... MORE

Eduard Yeghorian, chairman of the Armenian parliament's legal affairs commission and head of the reformist element in the ruling Armenian Pan-National Movement, has announced his official break with the APNM and his intention to set up an opposition group in parliament. Claiming to have the... MORE

Arriving in the Volga region late last week, vacationing Russian president Boris Yeltsin said he would work as well as rest. Yeltsin is to meet today with Defense Minister Igor Sergeev to discuss military reform. On July 23, First Deputy Premier Boris Nemtsov will come... MORE

Russia's Gazprom has said it will cut supplies to Belarus by half since Belarus has only paid for half this year's supplies. The Russians say Belarus owes $203 million, while Beltransgaz claims the debt is only $123 million. (ORT, 18 July) On two previous occasions... MORE

In a long-awaited step, the Ukrainian parliament has ratified the European Convention on Human Rights and five attached protocols. The legislature took no action on a sixth protocol that would have outlawed capital punishment. That proposal is unpopular in Ukraine because of rising crime. However,... MORE

Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin completed a three day visit to Brussels on July 20, but made little progress in his efforts to persuade the European Union to lift the current restrictions on Russian exports. Jacques Santer, the head of the European Commission, offered to... MORE

Aleksandr Pochinok, the head of Russia's State Tax Service, released his income declaration on July 19. It seems to be the most honest declaration to date. Unlike most other officials who have filed declarations, Pochinok listed all his family's bank accounts and shareholdings. His 1996... MORE

The political controversy over reform of Russia's troubled armed forces deepened on July 18, as a trio of influential former generals criticized the series of reform measures recently approved by President Boris Yeltsin. (See Monitor, July 17-18) One of the three, former defense minister Igor... MORE

The first session of the Permanent Joint Council, established by the Founding Act between NATO and Russia, was held on July 18 in Brussels -- a day later than planned because the parties involved had trouble agreeing on how the meeting was to be run.... MORE