A state of emergency has been declared in Russia's Far East city of Vladivostok in response to continuing power cuts caused by industrial unrest. The city, Russia's main port on the Pacific Ocean, has been plagued by political infighting for three years and is now... MORE

The Russian Black Sea Fleet's counterintelligence service claims that Crimean Tatars are spying on the fleet on behalf of Turkey. A fleet headquarters officer stated yesterday that the counterintelligence service has "repeatedly exposed such cases," most recently during a large-scale exercises conducted by the fleet... MORE

Moldova, but not Moscow, made public yesterday the Yeltsin-Kuchma-OSCE statement attached to the memorandum on settling the Transdniester conflict. The memorandum was signed in the Kremlin yesterday. (See Monitor, May 8) The attachment states that the memorandum's provisions cannot be construed as impairing generally recognized... MORE

The 52nd anniversary of victory in World War II was marked in Moscow today by a military parade in Red Square. The parade has been held every year since 1945 but this year the leadership of President Boris Yeltsin took several steps to distance the... MORE

NATO officials in Brussels are reported to be increasingly confident that a NATO-Russian political agreement can be finalized next week and say that the alliance is prepared to offer Moscow a few additional "sweeteners" to ensure that the deal is clinched. Officials were unwilling to... MORE

A top Russian intelligence officer charged in a newspaper interview published yesterday that foreign intelligence agencies are stepping up their activities in Russia as part of a broader effort to exploit the country's current economic and political weakness. Lt. Gen. Valery Pechenkin, the head of... MORE

As initial reports seemed to suggest (see Monitor, May 8), NATO secretary-general Javier Solana's May 7 visit to Kiev was marked by differences over the framework of NATO-Ukraine cooperation. The draft special partnership agreement, handed over by Solana in Kiev, "leaves a lot to improve"... MORE

The Soviet Air Force had stationed 2 military transport divisions in Ukraine, and when the USSR collapsed Ukraine inherited some 200 giant Il-76 military jet cargo planes -- nearly one-half of the Soviet inventory. Short of money and with far more air-lift capacity than it... MORE

Vafa Guluzade, senior foreign policy adviser to President Haidar Aliev, said on May 7 that his country is unlikely to ratify a conditional agreement reached last May that would allow Russia to station more military equipment in the Caucasus region that had been originally permitted... MORE

Georgian police yesterday found two anti-personnel mines that had been planted two meters apart on the road between Tbilisi and the suburb of Tskhneti where Georgia's leaders and senior officials have homes. President Eduard Shevardnadze, parliament chairman Zurab Zhvania, and other officials sometimes use that... MORE