Speaking in Moscow on April 2, IMF managing director Michel Camdessus said that the IMF will resume the $330 million monthly payments of its $10.1 billion Extended Fund Facility. (Reuter, April 2) The credit tranches for January, February, and March were suspended because of the... MORE

Oil workers in the town of Nizhnekamsk in Tatarstan are continuing the strike they began on March 27. Workers in Nizhnekamsk were among the less than one million Russian workers who observed the nationwide day of protest organized by the trade unions last week. But... MORE

Lawmakers in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Russia's Far East have added their voices to those of leaders in neighboring Primorsky Krai, where populist governor Yevgeny Nazdratenko has opposed a border agreement with China. (Itar-Tass, April 1) Under the 1991 treaty, Russia agreed to cede... MORE

The State Statistics Committee (Goskomstat) reports that at the end of February there were 6.9 million unemployed in Russia, which amounts to 9.5 percent of the country's 72.5 million working population. Of that total only 2.6 million, or 3.5 percent of the working population, were... MORE

An official at Russia's Transmash tank plant said yesterday that the Omsk-based company would not rule out negotiating a sale of its T-80 UK tanks to Iraq following the lifting of UN sanctions on that country. The officials also said that Russia's Defense Ministry had... MORE

A leading Israeli newspaper reports that Russia has signed an agreement to sell technology for its SS-4 intermediate range ballistic missile to Iran, but that Moscow might be willing to call off the deal if Israel agrees to pay Moscow unspecified compensation. The Ha'aretz newspaper... MORE

Russian and Japanese diplomats suggested yesterday that bilateral relations remain on track despite a Russian oil spill in Japanese waters in early January and Moscow's more recent postponement of a meeting of a joint Russo-Japanese trade commission. The remarks followed talks between Russian and Japanese... MORE

Although it has been 4 months since he was suspended from his post as commander-in-chief of the Russian Ground Forces, Gen. Vladimir Semenov still has not been officially charged with any offense. Yesterday, chief military prosecutor Valentin Panichev said that Semenov was a "witness." (Itar-Tass,... MORE

A large bronze statue of Nicholas II, Russia's last czar, was blown up early yesterday morning. The statue was erected last May in a village near Moscow to mark the centenary of the czar's coronation. No one has claimed responsibility. (Itar-Tass, ORT, April 1) Yeltsin... MORE

Russia's unwillingness to cooperate will not prevent Ukraine from shipping a second consignment of T-80UD tanks to Pakistan later this month as part of a $650 million deal ultimately to provide 320. The director of the Malyshev plant in Kharkiv, Hryhory Malyuk, said yesterday that... MORE