It looks as if the Bulgarian air force will not be getting the 14 Russian MiG-29SM multi-role jets it wanted. The Russian newspaper Segodnya reported yesterday that bilateral negotiations over the weekend had "proved fruitless." The Russians had sweetened the deal with offers of a... MORE

Resistance to the proposed Russia-Belarus Union is gathering momentum in Minsk, not only in nationalist but also in moderate opposition groups, as well as among establishment figures and in mainstream labor circles. Writing in a Moscow weekly, former Belarusan head of state Stanislau Shushkevich grimly... MORE

First Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov has overtaken presidential hopeful Aleksandr Lebed and is now Russia's most popular politician, while President Boris Yeltsin lags far behind. Nemtsov won 18.8 percent of the vote in a poll of 2,406 Russian citizens conducted between March 14 and... MORE

Nemtsov held a meeting on April 8 with the leaders of the electricity monopoly United Energy Systems of Russia (EES). (Russian television, Itar-Tass, April 8) The first deputy prime minister castigated the company for hiring 40 percent more workers since 1991, despite the fact that... MORE

As the government analyzes the results of the federal budget in the first quarter of 1997, it is clear that it faces a major crisis. Tax collection is running at about 60 percent of the planned level, and is even lower than in the first... MORE

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conceded yesterday that construction of the International Space Station would be delayed for nearly a year because the Russian government has not provided the money to its aerospace contractors to build an important component. (VOA, April 9)... MORE

According to "Moskovskie novosti," which quotes the latest report of the German Federal Office to Protect the Constitution, the mission of the Russian security services has of late been significantly expanded, including their efforts to counter NATO's planned eastward expansion. The Russian security services were... MORE

The Ukrainian parliament has turned down leading economic reformer Volodymyr Lanovyy's nomination as chairman of the State Property Fund, an institution that to a great extent controls the privatization process. A narrow majority in favor of the nomination fell well short of the margin required.... MORE

There is confusion in Ukraine's Autonomous Republic of Crimea, which now has two prime ministers. On April 9, the Crimean parliament thought it had won a two-month battle of wills and sacked Prime Minister Arkady Demydenko, an efficient administrator whom parliament considers too friendly toward... MORE

The Crimean parliament has approved the gradual introduction by the year 2002 of the Latin alphabet for the Crimean-Tatar language instead of the Cyrillic script now used. The switch will be financed by the government of Turkey. (Itar-Tass, April 10) Crimean Tatars make up about... MORE