Russia's upper house of parliament on July 4 rejected a bill passed earlier by the Duma that stipulated the immediate restoration of full trade links between Russia and Iraq. (UPI, July 4) Russia's Foreign Ministry had criticized the bill as a violation of Moscow's international... MORE

Russia's other soldiers and workers may not be so lucky. First deputy premier Boris Nemtsov told Russian Television yesterday that it will take the government five or six months, not the three that Yeltsin promised last week, to pay off wage arrears to state employees.... MORE

Federal Security Service Director Nikolai Kovalev told a newspaper interviewer that there are now only 45,000 agents in the FSB. However, he actively defended his agency's record in recent years, saying that they have caught more foreign spies in the past 12 months than in... MORE

Russian radio reports a flurry of activity in Karelia in connection with President Yeltsin's visit to the northern republic. Road markings have been painted "a blinding white," as have bridges on the presidential route. Most telling of all, long overdue wages have suddenly been paid,... MORE

Presidents Boris Yeltsin of Russia and Haidar Aliev of Azerbaijan signed a treaty of friendship and cooperation during Aliev's July 3-4 official visit to Moscow. Updating the document signed in 1992 by Yeltsin and Azerbaijan's then-president Abulfaz Elchibey, the new treaty condemns "separatism in all... MORE

Presidents Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine, Petru Lucinschi of Moldova, and Emil Constantinescu of Romania conferred on July 3-4 in the Ukrainian city of Izmail, situated on the Danube near the point where the three countries' borders intersect. The city and surrounding area -- in multiethnic... MORE

In a move which sends a warning signal to Russian industrialists, the U.K.-based Trans World Group has started construction of a $720 million aluminum smelter in Pavlodar. Upon its completion in four years' time the plant will have the capacity to produce 200,000 tons of... MORE

As U.S. president Bill Clinton vacationed in Spain over the weekend, leaders of the 16- member NATO alliance prepped for what could be a discordant two-day summit starting tomorrow in the Spanish capital. A disagreement between the U.S. and a group of its European allies... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin will "undoubtedly" veto the land code approved last week by the upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, according to Ilya Yuzhanov, chairman of the State Land Committee. Yuzhanov said the bill, which outlaws the free sale of agricultural land,... MORE

Duma deputies are rallying to halt the latest example of "insider privatization." The former state monopoly insurance company, Gosstrakh, which has annual sales of $500 million, is in the process of privatization. Twenty percent of its shares have already been sold to its employees for... MORE