Russian president Boris Yeltsin joined NATO secretary general Javier Solana and the leaders of NATO's 16 member states in Paris earlier today for the signing of the long-negotiated NATO-Russia Founding Act. Yeltsin called the agreement a "victory for reason," and in impromptu remarks after the... MORE

Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov held a closed-door meeting with Russia's lower house of parliament on May 23 in order to brief deputies in detail about the content of the recently negotiated Russia-NATO political agreement. Duma Security Committee chairman Viktor Ilyukhin said afterward that the Duma... MORE

Eight committees and commissions that until now formed part of the Russian presidential administration are to be closed down. The full import of the reorganization is not yet clear but the most significant closure appears to be that of the Presidential Council on Cossack affairs.... MORE

An unidentified man was killed and his driver and bodyguard were wounded last week when the Jeep in which they were driving was ambushed as they arrived at a restaurant in downtown Moscow. (Itar-Tass, May 23) Russia Not to Deploy Nukes in Belarus.

Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov said on May 24 that Russia has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons on Belarusan territory in peacetime -- "in the absence of any threat of aggression against our two countries." However, various Russian and Belarusan officials in the past... MORE

Visiting the school attended by his granddaughter, President Boris Yeltsin told pupils that in Moscow he and his family live in a state-owned apartment (3 Osennyaya Boulevard) and that, as president, he has the use of several government dachas in the countryside. He said all... MORE

Some of Russia's best known human rights activists -- Yelena Bonner, Lyudmila Alekseeva, Valery Abramkin, Maria Kirbasov, and Yuri Samodurov -- are setting up a new group called Common Action to campaign for the protection of the civil and economic rights of Russian citizens. The... MORE

A Russian newspaper on May 14 reported that China had purchased the unfinished ex-Soviet aircraft carrier "Varyag" for $2.4 billion as part of Beijing's effort to create a carrier-based striking force to use either against Taiwan or in the South China Sea. (Segodnya, May 14)... MORE

The Russian press, quoting a statement made recently by a "high ranking Interpol official," reports that from $150 to $300 billion have "drained" from Russia since 1991. (Delovoi mir, No. 58, 1997) According to this official, experts estimate that $1-2 billion are taken out of... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin assured Syria on May 21 that it has Moscow's support and said that Russia intends to do all it can to advance the Middle East peace process. Yeltsin's remarks, conveyed to reporters by a Kremlin press spokesman, came during a telephone conversation... MORE