Valery Livitsky, a senior aide to Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma, and Serhy Tyhypko, the new deputy prime minister responsible for economic reforms, have attacked the parliament's decision last week to eliminate tax incentives and customs exemptions for foreign investors. Both officials indicated yesterday that President... MORE

Tajik government-opposition negotiations in Tehran were officially closed yesterday. These end-game talks had opened on April 9 and were to have dealt with the legalization of political parties in Tajikistan. But the opposition suspended the talks on that first day upon learning that Russian authorities... MORE

Russian Foreign Ministry chief spokesman Gennady Tarasov yesterday described as "concoctions" recent Moscow media allegations that Turkmenistan serves as a conduit for arms deliveries to Taliban forces in Afghanistan and for Taliban drug deliveries to Russia and Europe. Dissemination of such stories "damages traditionally friendly... MORE

The World Bank is to lend Russia $6 billion over the coming two years. The loan, which follows an IMF pledge to restart the stalled monthly tranches of its $10.1 billion extended Fund facility to Russia, is a sign of growing international confidence that, under... MORE

Retired Russian navy captain Aleksandr Nikitin -- who has been charged with treason because of his work for the Norwegian Bellona Foundation -- has been awarded an international environmental prize. Nikitin was one of 7 winners of the $75,000 Goldman prize and was honored for... MORE

On April 14, a gunman hijacked a bus with 30 passengers on board in Makhachkala, capital of Dagestan, and demanded a ransom of $100,000 for their release. He was armed with a grenade-launcher and explosives. After several hours, Dagestani police managed to disarm the man,... MORE

Russian president Boris Yeltsin has dismissed Tax Service chief Vitaly Artyukhov and Railways Minister Anatoly Zaitsev. Both are being replaced by their former first deputies, Valery Pavlov and Nikolai Aksenenko, respectively. Their departures are being seen as a victory for the government's reform wing, with... MORE

President Boris Yeltsin appealed to the population in his regular weekly radio address this morning to reject foreign imports and buy Russian goods instead. He said this would help boost the economy and reduce unemployment. But Yeltsin insisted Russia would observe fair trading practices and... MORE

Russian Foreign Ministry chief spokesman Gennady Tarasov yesterday described as "impudent revanchist calls" remarks made recently in the U.S. by Lithuanian parliament chairman Vytautas Landsbergis. Tarasov particularly objected to Landsbergis's comments that the region's "native population was forced out by new settlers" and that Lithuania... MORE

. The clock is already ticking toward the May 15 deadline for finalizing the Union Charter, the basic document that will define the degree of sovereignty left to Belarus in the planned union with Russia. Although Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Aleksandr Lukashenko reserved five weeks... MORE