Presidents Leonid Kuchma and Alexander Kwasniewski signed in Kiev yesterday a statement on accord and unity, also referred to as a declaration of historic reconciliation. Signed symbolically in front of a student audience, the statement cites some "moving examples of mutual aid and cooperation in... MORE

Popular discontent is mounting in Russia's second city in reaction to the city government's decision to raise charges for communal services. As of February 1, charges for utilities and communal services were more than doubled for St Petersburg residents. Now, local Communists say they have... MORE

Austrian interior minister Karl Schloegl said yesterday that he would ask the Russians to provide more information on Soviet arms secretly hidden in his country during the Cold War. Last weekend the current affairs magazine "Profil" reported that the KGB had hidden arms and explosives... MORE

Belarusan president Aleksandr Lukashenko is holding final negotiations with Russian president Boris Yeltsin in Moscow today, before tomorrow's scheduled signing of the Russia-Belarus Union Charter. Lukashenko opposes the Kremlin's proposal that the charter stipulate, as a common goal, the future accession of Belarus to the... MORE

First Deputy Fuel and Energy Minister Sergei Kirienko has negotiated an end to the energy crisis which has gripped the Far Eastern province for the last few weeks. (ORT, 21 May) Primorsky governor Yevgeny Nazdratenko flew to Moscow and signed an agreement with Kirienko and... MORE

Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov was in Tatarstan yesterday to sign a treaty of friendship and cooperation with President Mintimer Shaimiev. The two presidents also signed a number of additional agreements under which Tatarstan will help Chechnya to restore its war-ravaged economy and health service and... MORE

Russian interior minister Anatoly Kulikov says his ministry's main task in connection with the Russian-Chechen peace treaty is to provide assistance to Chechnya's law enforcement agencies. According to the minister, this includes improving the crime situation, creating a working system to fight terrorism, freeing all... MORE

The Russian parliament refused yesterday to set a date for a debate on the government's proposed budget cuts and may not vote on them before June 4. (AP, May 22) Yesterday, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin appealed to the Duma not to play "political poker" with... MORE

A Russian official said yesterday that the two army units on Kunashir Island, the second largest of the Russian-held islands in the disputed South Kuriles chain, would be withdrawn by the end of June. Kunashir lies just 16 kilometers off of Japan's northern island of... MORE

Azerbaijani president Haidar Aliev yesterday observed that "strong forces in Russia seek to impede the investigation" into clandestine arms deliveries to Armenia, valued at more than $1 billion in 1993-96. Aliev again urged "official Russia to investigate the affair." (Interfax, May 21) Nothing has been... MORE