Russian president Boris Yeltsin indicated to reporters yesterday that he and Japanese prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto might meet informally sometime later this year, possibly in the autumn. During a meeting with a high-level group of Japanese reporters in Moscow, Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov echoed... MORE

In the first half of 1997 Russia produced 72,000 trucks and 460,000 cars, up 10 percent and 13 percent respectively over the same period in 1996. (Russian agencies, July 16) The auto industry is one of the few sectors of Russian manufacturing to have pulled... MORE

The Ukrainian parliament yesterday voted 226 to 91, with 26 abstentions, to approve President Leonid Kuchma's nomination of Valery Pustovoytenko as Prime Minister. The wide margin obscured the fact that the 226 votes in favor constituted only the absolute minimum -- 50 percent plus one... MORE

The Defense Ministers of Armenia and Greece, Vazgen Sarkisian and Akis Tsohadzopoulos, conferred on July 15-16 in Yerevan on bilateral military cooperation. Sarkisian also came out in favor of trilateral Russian-Greek-Armenian military cooperation as an "auspicious and realistic" proposition. While stating that Armenian-Greek military cooperation... MORE

Kyrgyz president Askar Akaev yesterday completed a week-long visit to the U.S. where he met with Vice-President Al Gore, senior State Department officials, the top managements of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and financier-philanthropist George Soros. The U.S. officials encouraged Akaev to... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin is expected to leave Karelia, where he is spending a fishing holiday, at the end of this week and travel to Samara oblast on the Volga for another couple of weeks' vacation. Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin was in Karelia this morning... MORE

Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin will supervise the activities of Russia's state-owned arms export and import company, Rosvooruzhenie, according to a government spokesman. The company has been accused of financial abuses by the Russian media, but leaders of Rosvooruzhenie maintain that the company has in fact... MORE

As part of Russia's impending military reform, two top defense officials have proposed unifying the country's special purpose forces under one command. As described by Airborne Forces commander Gen. Georgy Shpak and Defense Council secretary Yury Baturin, the new command would include troops from Russia's... MORE

Maj. Gen. Viktor Maluzov, the officer in charge of repairing tanks and armored vehicles in the North Caucasus Military District, has been arrested and charged with "abuse of power." The Military Prosecutor's office said that the charges against Maluzov relate to the disposal of military... MORE

The Clinton Administration's nominee for the post of ambassador to Russia has criticized the Russian parliament for its efforts to ban the activities of Western religious groups in Russia. (See Monitor, July 7) In confirmation hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on July 15,... MORE