Russian president Boris Yeltsin will meet tomorrow with Speaker Gennady Seleznev. Yeltsin will try to persuade the Duma to convene an emergency session and to debate the government's revised 1997 budget along with its proposals for deep cuts in social spending. Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin,... MORE

A Russian convicted of spying for Britain has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Vadim Sintsov, a 62-year-old former director at a Russian defense-industrial concern who was arrested in early 1994, had reportedly turned over classified information to British intelligence in return for bribes... MORE

The chairman of the Russian Duma's Defense Committee, Gen. Lev Rokhlin, suggested yesterday that his efforts to promote the creation of a public movement to defend the interests of servicemen and military industrial workers is bearing fruit. (Russian agencies, July 2) Rokhlin has become embroiled... MORE

The inaugural session of the Russian-Armenian intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation, held in Yerevan on June 30-July 1, considered a number of ambitious projects in the energy, machine-building, transportation, and banking sectors, but its activities appeared to be limited mainly to discussions. The chief tangible... MORE

In an unprecedented message to the Moldovan parliament on June 27, President Petru Lucinschi warned that he might call early elections if the legislature continues to block economic reforms. Lucinschi gave the legislature three weeks to enact legislation on bankruptcy, raising the pension age, demonopolization... MORE

Receiving Czech president Vaclav Havel in Kyiv, Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma deplored "the historic injustice that Ukraine, geographically situated near the center of Europe, has been separated from Central Europe for so long." Havel, who yesterday completed an official visit to Ukraine, handed to Kuchma... MORE

Ukrainian prime minister Pavlo Lazarenko resigned yesterday under pressure from President Leonid Kuchma. The president had been behind calls for the dismissal of Lazarenko as an obstacle to reforms, and on June 19 tasked the first deputy prime minister, Vasyl Durdinets, to serve as acting... MORE

Latvian prime minister Andris Skele accepted yesterday the resignation of Agriculture Minister Roberts Dilba, who admitted to having violated a statute against conflict of interest. An investigation by the General Prosecutor's Office found that Dilba had failed to declare the shares he held in two... MORE

In Havana yesterday, Belarusan foreign minister Ivan Antanovich handed over a message from President Alyaksandr Lukashenka to Cuban leader Fidel Castro and an invitation for Castro to visit Belarus. According to Antanovich, "Belarus is especially interested in Cuba's experience of surviving in complicated conditions and... MORE

Chechen first deputy premier Movladi Udugov met in Moscow on June 30 with Russian first deputy premier Anatoly Chubais to discuss economic issues, including banking and customs agreements and the transit of early Azerbaijani oil through Chechen territory. About a month ago, Chubais's fellow first... MORE