Tensions are rising between the three neighboring North Caucasus republics of Chechnya, Ingushetia, and North Ossetia. Russia's Security Council is to meet in Moscow today to discuss the problems faced both by the 10,000 Ingush refugees who have returned to homes in North Ossetia's Prigorodny... MORE

The second round of talks between the administration of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and the legitimate parliamentary leadership, mediated by the European Union, broke down on its fourth day on July 18. The talks in Minsk failed to overcome procedural disagreements over the composition of the... MORE

The Moldovan parliament last week turned down a draft law that would have established a Human Rights Center as an Ombudsman-type institution. Socialists and allied leftist groups disliked the proposed measure mainly because it had been recommended by Western representatives in the Council of Europe... MORE

Five days after the established deadline, the Tajik government and opposition yesterday were close to completing the first stage in the exchange of prisoners and detainees envisaged by the June 27 agreement. Although the exchange involved 48 individuals on each side, instead of the 50... MORE

The Pakistani navy's chief of staff, Vice-Admiral Fazih Bohari, held talks in Turkmenistan with President Saparmurad Niazov and with military leaders July 17-20; he also visited Turkmen garrisons . The sides agreed that Pakistan will train sailors for Turkmenistan's Caspian flotilla and otherwise assist in... MORE

The target for Russia's next military draft -- to be held from October through December -- will probably be 20,000 to 25,000 lower than the 214,000 inducted in this year's spring campaign, according to Defense Council secretary Yury Baturin. (Russian agencies, July 17) Yeltsin to... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin plans to make an official visit to China sometime in November, where is expected to sign a number of documents with his Chinese hosts, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman announced yesterday. (Itar-Tass, July 17) Russian first deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov... MORE

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady Tarasov yesterday joined Duma hard-liners in protesting the one-year prison sentence pronounced by a Vilnius court against pro-Soviet activist Valery Ivanov. (See Monitor, July 16) Tarasov attributed the sentence to "strong pressure by Lithuanian forces seeking to cast a shadow... MORE

William Courtney, who is completing his tour of duty as U.S. ambassador to Georgia, is cited as stating in a local press interview that it is no longer possible to believe that Russian mediation would "some day" help settle the Abkhazia conflict. Courtney calls for... MORE

Uzbek police yesterday arrested in Tashkent region a Tajik captain of the Dushanbe city police who was carrying two kilograms of heroin. (Russian agencies, July 17) Last month, Kazakhstani police in Almaty caught the Tajik embassy's driver in the act of carrying a large consignment... MORE