Boris Yeltsinmet yesterday with First Deputy Defense Minister Andrei Kokoshin,the only civilian to sit in Russia's top military command. Yeltsinreportedly questioned Kokoshin about military reform, as wellas inquiring into the morale of the armed forces. Kokoshin, whooversees military-technical and procurement issues was orderedto prepare a... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin willsoon have his own Internet homepage, according to presidentialspokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky. The site will include Yeltsin'sbiography and chapters from the constitution concerning the rightsand duties of the Russian president. (Interfax, AP, June 2) Ukrainian-Romanian Treaty Hailed in the West.

U.S. presidentBill Clinton, NATO secretary general Javier Solana, the EuropeanUnion's presidency, and other European bodies have all issuedstatements welcoming the Ukrainian-Romanian good-neighborly relationstreaty signed on June 2. The statements characterize the treatyas a significant step toward consolidating regional and Europeanstability and overcoming past problems. (White... MORE

Contrary to earlierreports, the May 31 election for the mayor of the Chechen capitalhas been declared invalid because less than one-third of eligiblevoters took part in the ballot. That is far fewer than the 50percent required. A repeat election will have to be held in... MORE

Izvestia has publisheda muck-raking article alleging that the only way to get legislationadopted by the Duma is to pay one of the parliamentary factionshard cash to sponsor it. The newspaper says it was told by ananonymous member of parliament that legislation has become bigbusiness. "For... MORE

Entering the town of Kofarnihon, a district center situated only 20 kilometers east of Dushanbe, Tajik opposition detachments commanded by Abdul Vose and Rahmon Sanginov seized several officers of the Presidential Guard and the commanders of local police in order to force the government to... MORE

Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze and Chechen presidential adviser Ruslan Kutaev met behind closed doors on June 1. According to Georgian television, they discussed "issues connected with cultural and economic relations between Georgia and Chechnya." Visits of high-ranking Chechen emissaries to Tbilisi are becoming more frequent.... MORE

Meeting yesterday on Romania's Black Sea coast, Presidents Leonid Kuchma and Emil Constantinescu signed a long-delayed treaty on good-neighborly relations and cooperation, effectively laying to rest Romanian territorial claims on Ukraine. (See Monitor, June 2, for details on the territorial issues) The treaty confirms the... MORE

The general trend toward economic recovery in the CIS noted earlier this year seems to be giving way to greater differentiation in performance, according to a report recently released by the CIS Interstate Statistical Committee. (Interfax, May 28) While Georgia continues to grow rapidly, economic... MORE

An "informed source" in the Russian Defense Ministry said yesterday it was extremely unlikely that Russia would pay Ukraine for any of the strategic bombers left in Ukraine after the breakup of the Soviet Union. The two countries have been wrangling over these warplanes for... MORE