Nearly a month after the signing of the Russia-NATO Founding Act, Moscow yesterday continued its drumbeat of criticism against NATO on two continents. During a speech in New York, Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin reiterated Moscow's contention that enlargement is a "fundamental mistake." He also... MORE

Before breaking for its summer recess, the Russian Duma appealed to the population to resist President Yeltsin's call to remove Lenin's body from its Red Square tomb. (Itar-Tass, June 23) The Communist-dominated Duma was carrying out the instructions of the Communist Party's Central Committee, which... MORE

The first shipment of "early" oil along the Baku-Djohar-gala-Novorossiisk pipeline will take place on schedule, according to Terry Adams, head of the AIOC (Azerbaijan International Operating Company). The AIOC is coordinating the development of Azerbaijan's Azeri, Chirag, and Guneshli offshore oil fields. Adams added that,... MORE

Patriarch Aleksy II, head of the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), has again condemned foreign missionaries for their activities in Russia. (UPI, June 24) The religious leader was speaking after the Duma's approval of a bill on religion that, by placing strict limits on who... MORE

Ukraine's current non-bloc status, enshrined in its constitution, "does not foreclose Ukraine's option to enter into new or already existing alliance systems," First Deputy Foreign Minister Anatoly Buteiko told a Kyiv briefing yesterday. "Integration in European and Euroatlantic structures is one of Ukraine's fundamental tasks.... MORE

Turkmen president Saparmurad Niazov has decreed the liquidation of the Russian-Turkmen joint company Turkmenrosgaz. The company had been created in January 1996 to handle Turkmen gas exports to Ukraine via the Russian pipeline system. Ukraine owes Turkmenistan more than $300 million for gas delivered during... MORE

The director of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said yesterday that his unorthodox call earlier this month -- urging Russians working for foreign intelligence agencies to turn themselves in and to become double agents -- is already paying dividends. But Nikolai Kovalev, who heads the... MORE

According to Leni Fischer, chairwoman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the agreement signed recently in St. Petersburg between PACE and the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly "contains nothing that could be interpreted as recognition of a CIS supranational structure." The agreement merely envisages... MORE

On June 24 the Duma approved a new law which lays down the procedures for the future privatization of state property. Since the Duma approved the voucher privatization program in 1992, all subsequent sales have proceeded under government decree. The new law bars loan-share auctions,... MORE

Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov now has a direct telephone connection with the Russian government. Chechnya's telephone system was destroyed in the war and until now its leaders have relied on satellite phones to contact the outside world. (BBC World Service, June 24) FBI Spy Receives... MORE