Only a week remains for candidates to register in the election for governor of Nizhny Novgorod oblast. The post fell vacant in March, when incumbent Boris Nemtsov moved to Moscow to join the government. So far, 13 candidates have said they intend to run. Because... MORE

Former deputy mayor of Moscow Sergei Stankevich, currently detained in Poland while Russia seeks his extradition on corruption charges, has offered to return to Russia voluntarily as long as he is allowed to await trial at home. Stankevich says he fears for his life if... MORE

Col. Gen. Valentin Panichev's letter of resignation was accepted yesterday by the Federation Council, and Lt. Gen. Yury Dyomin was appointed to replace him. Dyomin had headed the Federal Security Service's legal department for the past 5 years. Panichev was said to have quit for... MORE

The newspaper Nezavisimaya gazeta reported yesterday that Moscow is seeking an agreement with the U.S. that would allow Russia -- and, reportedly, the U.S. also -- to make military use of the "Alpha" international space station. The newspaper warned that the effort to provide "for... MORE

Several thousand Minsk residents demonstrated yesterday for Belarusan independence. "No to Russian annexation" and "Russia means war, terrorism, and poverty" were the main slogans. Leaders of the forcibly dissolved parliament and of the Popular Front and other parties headed the procession. On the previous day,... MORE

Members of the upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, are reported to have voted to overrule President Boris Yeltsin's veto of a bill making it all but impossible for foreign countries to reclaim works of art brought to the Soviet Union at... MORE

Japanese and Russian experts analyzing the bow section of the Russian oil tanker Nakhodka have reached different preliminary conclusions as to the reasons for the January 2 wreck of the ship off Japan's coast. A Japanese panel on May 6 cited the ship's age as... MORE

Russian military sources in Astrakhan yesterday cited a decision by the command of Russia's naval forces to reinforce the Caspian Flotilla and expand its activities. According to these sources, the flotilla will receive funding to create additional coastal facilities for its ships and a crack... MORE

A Russian major -- a deputy commander of a "peacekeeping" tank battalion -- was assassinated with five pistol shots yesterday in broad daylight in downtown Dushanbe. Russian security agencies have joined the investigation conducted by the Tajik authorities, who have failed to uncover the perpetrators... MORE

Addressing the Hungarian parliament yesterday, Estonian president Lennart Meri appealed to "Europe's historical memory" to prevent the "creation of unequal zones of greater security and lesser security," and thus "a new and more polite version of dividing Europe." Meri launched a proposal, endorsed by Hungary's... MORE