Russian authorities have reportedly halted all research activities and are considering launching unspecified criminal proceedings in the wake of an accident at a top nuclear research center that left one engineer dead. Aleksandr Zakharov died three days after being exposed to a massive dose of... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin yesterday named Lt. Gen. Vladimir Isakov Chief of Rear Services and a deputy defense minister. He had been the chief of staff of the Rear Services. Col. Gen. Vladimir Yakovlev -- who had been acting head of the Strategic Rocket Forces since... MORE

The last unit of the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces has left Belarus, 6 months after all the strategic missiles and their nuclear warheads were removed. President Boris Yeltsin's press spokesman, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, told reporters yesterday that Yeltsin had sent Belarusan president Alyaksandr Lukashenka a letter... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin will begin his summer holiday on July 7, presidential spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky announced yesterday. He said the president will probably divide his time between Samara or Saratov oblasts on the River Volga, and the Karelian lakes in northern Russia. First Deputy Premier... MORE

Kazak president Nursultan Nazarbaev has told the country on television that the Russian leadership's policy toward Kazakstan "today is all right, thank God." However, "there are many ill-wishers [who] have drawn up plans, if not to go back to the Soviet Union, then to bring... MORE

"As a patriot, I welcome the signing of the agreement between the Tajik government and the opposition, but, unfortunately, it won't bring peace to the republic," Abdumalik Abdullajonov, the ex-premier of Tajikistan and the chairman of the "National Revival of Tajikistan" party (the so-called "third... MORE

Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze has ordered the General Prosecutor to investigate charges that the State Security Ministry has wiretapped the telephones of opposition journalists. The president announced that he shares the concerns expressed by parliamentary deputies at hearings last week, when the opposition presented tapes... MORE

Crowds of supporters of the Communist and Socialist parties -- estimates ranged from 4,000 to 20,000 -- rallied in several Kyiv squares and marched through the city center on June 28, Ukraine's Constitution Day. A part of the crowd marched on President Leonid Kuchma's residence... MORE

Cosmonauts Vasily Tsibliev and Aleksandr Lazutkhin are returning some of the luster to Russia's tarnished space program as they and American astronaut Michael Foale continue to overcome the effects of last week's collision with an unmanned Russian cargo vessel. The three have thus far been... MORE

A gas deal estimated at between $4 and $5 billion was the crowning jewel in a series of agreements signed by Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin during a visit to Beijing on June 27-28. The framework accord calls for Russia to supply China with up... MORE