Police yesterday defused a number of explosive devices planted inside the huge, nearly completed statue of Peter the Great on the banks of the Moscow River. A group calling itself the Revolutionary Military Council claimed responsibility for the bombs, saying it planted the devices in... MORE

The upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, has approved a law on religion which opponents say gives unfair privileges to the Russian Orthodox Church and discriminates against other confessions. (UPI, July 4) The bill now goes to President Boris Yeltsin for signature.... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin arrived yesterday in Karelia, in northern Russia, to begin his summer vacation. (Itar-Tass, July 6) Relief Supplies on Way to Russian Mir Space Station.

Igor Golembiovsky, editor-in-chief of Russia's leading liberal newspaper, Izvestia, has lost a long-running battle to keep his job. On July 5 the board of directors effectively dismissed Golembiovsky when it voted to bar him from standing for re-election as chief editor. (RTR, Ekho Moskvy, July... MORE

The head of Russia's chief counter-intelligence agency, the Foreign Security Service, said in an interview on July 4 that the activities of foreign spies in Russia have risen to levels unprecedented since World War II. Nikolai Kovalev also said, however, that his agency's recent creation... MORE

A day after one Russian was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for spying for Britain, it was reported on July 3 that a Moscow court had sentenced a former Russian diplomat to seven years hard labor for passing secrets to the CIA over a 20-year... MORE

Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov yesterday gave the Chechen police 24 hours to come up with information on the whereabouts of two British aid workers and to set up a new police unit with "unlimited" powers to track down kidnappers and drug-smugglers. The British couple --... MORE

On July 4 Russian president Boris Yeltsin signed power-sharing treaties on behalf of the Russian Federation with Bryansk, Chelyabinsk, Magadan, Saratov, and Vologda oblasts. The event was heralded as an achievement in Moscow since Bryansk and Chelyabinsk are firm members of Russia's "red belt." Moscow... MORE

Kyrgyz president Askar Akaev yesterday appointed a reputed China specialist, Muradbek Imanaliev, to the post of foreign minister. Imanaliev had served in that post in 1991-93, was ambassador to China in 1993-96, and headed the presidential administration's international relations department for the past year. Akaev... MORE

Chechen officials claimed yesterday that, as a result of Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov's visit to Baku on July 1, Azerbaijan has agreed to sign a trilateral agreement between Moscow, Baku, and Djohar-gala on the transit of "early" oil from the Caspian through Chechnya to the... MORE