Adm. Igor Khmelnov, once the commander-in-chief of Russia's Pacific Fleet and later the chief of the main navy staff in Moscow, has apparently confessed to charges of "abuse of powers leading to serious consequences." He has been under investigation since February, accused of allocating navy... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin appeared to make it official yesterday that he will not attend NATO's July 8-9 summit in Madrid. Speaking to reporters prior to his departure for the U.S., Yeltsin said that a group of advisors had considered the issue and decided in... MORE

Japanese prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto told reporters in Tokyo yesterday that he intends to press Boris Yeltsin for a resolution to the Kuril Islands territorial dispute when the two men hold talks today in Denver. "At my meeting with President Yeltsin, I intend to urge... MORE

Speaking to journalists in Moscow yesterday before his departure for the G-7 summit, Russian president Boris Yeltsin said parliament's approval of the government's new tax code was an "enormous victory." Earlier in the day, the Duma had conditionally adopted the draft code in the first... MORE

Russia's deputy economics minister, Vladimir Salo, announced yesterday at the Paris Air Show that Russia will sell 12 MiG-29 jet fighters to Bulgaria. The two countries had held talks on the purchase earlier this year but they were called off in April when the Bulgarian... MORE

Germany yesterday handed over gratis to Estonia a minesweeper, built in 1967 and recently overhauled, and is about to contribute a second such vessel. The renamed Olev and Kalev, which will join the flagship Sulev, are turning Estonia's fleet into an operational force, said fleet... MORE

The Presidents of Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, Islam Karimov and Haidar Aliev, conferred on June 18-19 in Tashkent on a planned Central Asia-Caucasus transit corridor, designed to reorient their countries' exports toward the West. The presidents discussed specific proposals for highway, railroad, pipeline, and port terminal... MORE

Russian interior minister Anatoly Kulikov told a press conference yesterday that the former mayor of St. Petersburg, Anatoly Sobchak, is being investigated in connection with a criminal case. Kulikov gave no details. (RTR, June 19) Sobchak was a key member of the campaign for democratization... MORE

Washington and London called for a hardening of UN sanctions against Iraq yesterday, but efforts to push through a tough resolution against Baghdad appeared likely to founder on the opposition of Russia, China, and Egypt. The flurry of activity follows renewed accusations that Iraq is... MORE

Russia has completed the evacuation of its embassy staff and their families from Brazzaville, the Congo's conflict-torn capital. A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said that continuing tension in the city, and especially France's decision to withdraw its military contingent from the capital, were behind Moscow's... MORE