The bombs planted at the statue of Peter the Great on the banks of the Moscow River on July 6 were clever fakes that could not have exploded, the Federal Security Service has announced. The police say they have no information on the Russian Revolutionary... MORE

Only 19 of their existing 122 military construction units will remain part of the armed forces, Russian first deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov has announced. The other 103 units are to be sold off and turned into joint-stock companies. Nemtsov had earlier held up this... MORE

On July 3 the independent Council for Defense and Foreign Policy in Moscow decided to draw up a "black list" of Western publications which spread defamations about Russia. So far, the list includes "Forbes" magazine, the "Washington Times," and the Italian paper "La Repubblica." The... MORE

Russia's Foreign Ministry yesterday slammed the U.S. for interfering in Moscow's efforts to develop military-technical cooperation with Peru and other Latin American nations. A spokesman suggested that the U.S. is engaging in unfair methods of competition motivated by a desire to retain the Latin American... MORE

A Russian-South Korean intergovernmental commission on economic, scientific, and technical cooperation has completed its first session in Seoul with the signing of a package of agreements. They include an amendment to the 1995 agreement on the settlement of Russia's debt to South Korea and an... MORE

On July 3 President Leonid Kuchma signed a decree setting up an arbitration chamber to hear disputes between foreign investors and their Ukrainian partners. One third of the chamber's members will be Ukrainian specialists and two thirds will be foreign experts resident in Ukraine. The... MORE

Georgia's Supreme Court yesterday sentenced Vazha Khachapuridze, one of the leaders of the United Communist Party of Georgia, to five years in prison for having stored arms and created an armed group. Khachapuridze had been under arrest since last year. Another top UCPG leader, Panteleimon... MORE

The Tajik government-opposition commission for national reconciliation completed yesterday in Moscow its inaugural session. It had convened on July 7. The commission elected United Opposition leader Saidabdullo Nuri as commission chairman and Dushanbe parliament vice-chairman Abdulmajid Dostiev as commission vice-chairman. The two men signed an... MORE

On July 10 President Boris Yeltsin vetoed a federal law lowering road fines and banning the use of "boots" to immobilize illegally parked cars. (RTR, July 10) Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov, who favors the use of boots, had earlier said that Duma deputies might change... MORE

There has been no let-up in the spate of kidnappings in and around Chechnya. Yesterday, two Russian construction workers from Kursk oblast were seized on the road near Djohar-gala; the day before, a Slovak citizen working as a driver was abducted in Ingushetia. Dozens of... MORE