The U.S. Senate voted 95-4 yesterday to cut U.S. aid to Russia if President Boris Yeltsin signs into law a bill on religion that would curtail the rights of all but a handful of officially-approved religions. Sen. Tim Hutchinson called the bill "a misguided effort... MORE

Russian news agencies say there was a grenade attack this morning on a bus carrying Ingush refugees back to their old homes in North Ossetia's Prigorodny District. Two people are said to have been killed and ten injured in the attack, which took place close... MORE

In a joint statement issued on July 16 by Unikombank and the Russian Central Bank, Unikombank admitted that some of its officials had committed irregularities in handling the $500 million of loans which were the target of accusations of wrongdoing by Central Bank president Sergei... MORE

Presidential aide Aleksandr Livshits said yesterday that it may be necessary to increase VAT by two percent -- to 22 percent -- to generate additional funds to bail out the Pension Fund. The same day Duma Budget Committee Mikhail Zadornov, convening a working group to... MORE

Russia will pay Ukraine $5 million over the next 2 years for use of the ex-Soviet ballistic missile early warning radars located in Ukraine, the commander-in-chief of Russia's Air Defense Troops announced in Kyiv yesterday. Gen. Viktor Prudnikov said the money would be paid as... MORE

Latvian president Guntis Ulmanis and Estonian prime minister Mart Siimann, in separate statements yesterday, ruled out a deal with Russia for security guarantees to the Baltic states. Ulmanis said this was no topic for discussion, and Siimann challenged Russia "to become a democratic and economically... MORE

Beginning on July 22, bread prices will be increased by 40 percent in Uzbekistan A loaf will now cost 30 cents. Public transport fees will also increase by 40 percent. However, from July 1 basic scales for wages and pensions were raised 50 percent: the... MORE

An agreement was signed on July 15 between Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) and Chechnya's National Security Service. (RTR, July 15) The text was not published but is said to concentrate on the struggle against terrorism, sabotage, and kidnapping. Unlike a cooperation agreement signed some... MORE

The Russian government reached agreement late yesterday on the payment of wage arrears to nuclear power workers. The agreement was signed after several hundred workers from the Smolensk nuclear power plant reached Moscow on the last leg of a 360-km protest march. The agreement was... MORE

Russian media have suggested that President Boris Yeltsin yesterday signed a number of decrees dealing with the reform of the armed forces. He met that day with Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and after the meeting officials announced that Chernomyrdin's Commission on Military Construction would submit... MORE