After examining it for more than 3 years, the U.S. Senate late last night recommended that the U.S. ratify the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). And while the Senators attached 28 minor reservations to their ratification measure, they turned down the 5 so-called "killer" amendments... MORE

International Monetary Fund managing director Michel Camdessus says Russia will probably receive the next tranche of the IMF's $10.2 billion three-year loan at the end of next month. (Itar-Tass, April 24) Meanwhile, Russian first deputy premier Anatoly Chubais told members of the Russian Duma's Budget... MORE

One of the central figures in the struggle for control over Russia's aluminum industry, Mikhail Cherny, has surfaced to give his first ever public interview. (Izvestiya, April 24) Cherny describes himself as an honest businessman who brought foreign capital into the metals industry in 1992... MORE

One day after the presidents of Russia and China issued a joint declaration on international relations (see Monitor, April 24), they were joined in Moscow yesterday by the presidents of Kazakstan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan for the signing of a treaty on troop reductions along the... MORE

Addressing the NATO Council in Brussels, Estonian foreign minister Toomas Ilves yesterday called for the issuance of a specific, written commitment at the upcoming Madrid summit regarding NATO's intention to continue enlarging. A communique merely referring to NATO as an open organization under article 10... MORE

In statements made at a special cabinet session and to the government daily on his 100th day in office, President Petru Lucinschi expressed serious concern over what he described as halt to reforms in Moldova since 1996. Lucinschi called for relaunching the reforms even if... MORE

It depends on President Boris Yeltsin to "prevent what history will subsequently call the annexation of Belarus by Russia," the Belarusan democratic opposition said yesterday in an appeal to the Russian president. The statement expressed regret that the Russian government alone "has openly displayed solidarity... MORE

Yoshihiro Inoue, the "intelligence chief" of Japan's Aum Shinri Kyo cult, testified yesterday that former Russian Security Council secretary Oleg Lobov had provided blue prints for a nerve gas plant used by the cult to produce deadly sarin gas. The gas was released in a... MORE

Two people were killed and 20 others were wounded yesterday when an explosion occurred at the railway station in Armavir in south Russia's Krasnodar krai. (Itar-Tass, April 23) According to Russia's Independent TV, investigators are working on the assumption that Chechen terrorists were responsible for... MORE

Gen. Igor Sergeyev, commander-in-chief of Russia's Strategic Rocket Forces (SRF), yesterday supported the START II strategic arms reduction treaty and called for the signing of the follow-on START III. He also expressed confidence that Russia could use "political methods" to keep NATO nuclear weapons out... MORE