Opening a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe yesterday, PACE president Leni Fischer stated that the parliament created by Belarusan president Aleksandr Lukashenko is not eligible to send delegates because it was not legitimately elected. Several days earlier, the European Parliament... MORE

The Chisinau newspaper Kommunist has published the text of a letter signed by 57 out of the Moldovan parliament's 104 deputies. The letter welcomes the planned Russia-Belarus Union as "conforming to current international integration tendencies," adhering to European models, and setting a positive example for... MORE

In separate but apparently coordinated statements yesterday, Presidents Levon Ter-Petrosian of Armenia and Haidar Aliev of Azerbaijan declined to assign blame for the clashes of the last ten days, the most violent since the 1994 ceasefire on the Karabakh front. The presidents said that they... MORE

The opposition National Revival Alliance yesterday accused the Dushanbe government of responsibility for the death of scores of inmates in the prison of Hojent, capital of the northern Leninabad region. The inmates had rioted in protest against a plan to move them to camps in... MORE

The Russian Justice Ministry has officially registered the Russian People's Republican party, led by presidential hopeful Aleksandr Lebed. (Interfax, April 18) Last week, Kommersant-daily described Lebed as losing popularity and fading fast from the political scene. (Kommersant-daily, April 19) The task facing the new party,... MORE

Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and an accompanying delegation arrived in Prague yesterday for talks that are to focus on improving bilateral trade relations. Chernomyrdin, who will be making his first official visit to the Czech Republic, also suggested that military technical cooperation will be... MORE

The Foreign Ministry on April 18 underscored Moscow's belief in political dialogue as the best way for the two Koreas to resolve their various disputes. The ministry statement was apparently an effort to clarify remarks made earlier in China by Russian defense minister Igor Rodionov... MORE

Azerbaijan and Armenia have accused each other of starting clashes on April 18-19 in a sector of their mutual border and also in Azerbaijani territory held by Karabakh forces. Reports on dead and wounded have been conflicting. Presidents Haidar Aliev and Levon Ter-Petrosian conferred by... MORE

At least 10,000 opposition supporters rallied in downtown Yerevan on April 18 calling for new elections to replace the current parliament, which emerged from the fraudulent 1995 elections. The police did not intervene, but President Levon Ter-Petrosian's chief spokesman firmly ruled out holding the anticipated... MORE

"Russia's two largest parties" (as they were described by Kommersant-daily on April 19) both held congresses in Moscow last weekend. (RTR, April 19) One -- the pro-government "Russia is Our Home" (ROH) movement -- is not a party at all and has no immediate plans... MORE