Government sources in Tokyo indicated on June 13 that Japanese prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto intends to discuss the Kuril Islands territorial dispute with Boris Yeltsin during a bilateral meeting on the eve of the June 20-22 G-7 summit, but that he has not decided whether... MORE

According to the acting leader of the Islamic Party of Azerbaijan, identified as Haji Mehdi, the IPA's Supreme Council has been replaced almost in its entirety by a Provisional Supreme Council comprised of new leaders. Many supporters of the former leaders are also leaving the... MORE

The contract to develop the Lenkoran-Deniz and Talysh-Deniz oilfields, just ratified by the Azerbaijani parliament (see Monitor, June 16), brings new players to Azerbaijan's oilfields. The French company Elf Aquitaine is project operator with a 40 percent stake, and Total of France holds another 10... MORE

Finance Minister Algirdas Semeta announced on June 9 that Lithuania has received an investment-grade international credit rating from the U.S. Standard and Poor's rating agency. (BNS, Russian news agencies, June 9) This rating, which is the third positive assessment Lithuania has received from international credit... MORE

Britain's 19th century prime minister William Gladstone conducted a personal crusade to convert London's prostitutes to godliness and clean living. Russian interior minister Anatoly Kulikov has his own ideas. The minister has proposed setting up an official red light district in Moscow, where medical and... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin yesterday rejected Duma chairman Gennady Seleznev's proposal that the melody of the former USSR's anthem be adopted as the Russia-Belarus Union's anthem. Yeltsin was reacting to a report on the inaugural session of the Russia-Belarus Union's Parliamentary Assembly, held at the... MORE

Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov said yesterday that Russia would forego the sale of S-300 PMU1 anti-aircraft missiles to the Greek Cypriot government if Cyprus is declared a demilitarized zone. The remark followed a meeting in Moscow between Primakov and Greek Cypriot foreign minister Ioannis... MORE

An unidentified spokesman for the Russian General Staff yesterday listed the requirements for the new rapid deployment force announced by Defense Minister Igor Sergeev last week. Each of the requirements will be expensive to implement, indicating that it might be some time before these four... MORE

Meeting in Sochi on June 13, Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov signed a memorandum of agreement on the transit of Caspian oil from Baku to Novorossiisk through the 150 km pipeline that runs across Chechen territory. The Chechen government pledged... MORE

On June 13 the U.S. tobacco firm Philip Morris announced that it had evacuated two Moscow-based British staff after they received threats from criminal figures. This is the first time that a Western company has publicly acknowledged taking such a step in response to criminal... MORE