Consumer prices in Ukraine rose during May by only0.8 percent, according to preliminary official estimates. (Interfax-Ukraina,June 6) This means prices increased during the first five monthsof 1997 by only 5.2 percent and that Ukraine's annual inflationrate is now well under 20 percent. This is lower... MORE

With363 deputies in favor, two against and 19 abstaining, the RussianDuma voted on June 6 to ratify the Russia-Belarus Union Treatyand Charter. The two documents were signed on April 2 and May23, respectively, by Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Alyaksandr Lukashenka.Presenting the documents to the Duma,... MORE

On June6 the deputy head of the Russian presidential administration,Yevgeni Sevastyanov, traveled to Primore in Russia's Far Eastto explain the new powers granted last week to President Yeltsin'srepresentative in the region, former Primore Federal SecurityService chief Lt. Gen. Viktor Kondratov. (See Monitor,June 6) Sevastyanov said... MORE

The four "Radio Russia"and Itar-Tass journalists who were kidnapped in Chechnya on March4 were released on June 6. According to Chechen interior ministerKazbek Makhachev, their release was the result of a successfuloperation by special Chechen police units, and no ransom was paid. The release of... MORE

The Russianmilitary could comply with President Boris Yeltsin's order tocut 200,000 men by the end of this year by doing nothing, sincethe actual strength of the armed forces falls short of the officialfigures by more than that number at the present time. This wasconfirmed by... MORE

Frustrated metalworkers from three large Volgograd plants took to the streetson 7 June and halted traffic on main roads through the city. Workersat the Red October plant have been on strike since April 24 protestingwage arrears. They were joined by workers from the Barricade andTractor... MORE

Moscow oblast tax policehave discovered a two-room apartment in the town of Troitsk, nearMoscow, which was listed as the official address of no fewer than1,100 firms. The record is still held by a three-room apartmenton downtown Moscow's Kutuzovsky Prospect, which earlier this yearwas found to... MORE

There are no plans to grant official state status to the Romanovfamily, the office of First Deputy Premier Boris Nemtsov saidlast week. (Interfax, June 8) Nemtsov's office did however confirmthat such an idea was "briefly" considered a coupleof months ago, at which time it provoked... MORE

Russian Communist leaders have rejected President Boris Yeltsin'scall for a nationwide referendum on removing Lenin's mummifiedcorpse from its Red Square tomb. Visiting St. Petersburg lastweek on his first regional trip since last year's presidentialelection, Yeltsin said Red Square should not be used as a graveyardand... MORE

Georgian presidentEduard Shevardnadze yesterday issued a decree requiring law enforcementofficers to observe the legal and human rights of prison inmatesand suspects during arrest and pretrial investigation. The decreemandates prosecution of violators of those rights; orders publicationof a human-rights handbook for distribution to law-enforcementofficers; and institutes... MORE