Conclusive though still incomplete returns indicate a triumph for the Fatherland Union/Conservatives in local elections, held on March 23 in all of Lithuania's 44 districts and 12 cities. FU seems to have won approximately two thirds of all municipal council mandates, and looks set to... MORE

Russian diplomats at the UN on March 24 denied reports that Moscow intends to execute a recently concluded oil contract with Iraq regardless of whether UN sanctions are lifted on Baghdad. That statement had been attributed to Russian energy minister Petr Rodionov following the signing... MORE

A "senior officer" in the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces has been arrested and accused of spying for an unnamed foreign country. A report issued by the Federal Security Service (FSB) said that "the damage to Russian defenses would [have amounted] to hundreds of billions of... MORE

The chiefs of the Russian and Ukrainian Air Forces are meeting today in Moscow to try to agree on the terms by which Ukraine will turn over to Russia at least some of the 40 strategic bombers it inherited from the USSR. These include 19... MORE

Moldova's Defense Ministry yesterday dismissed recent Transdniester accusations, aired in Moscow, that Moldova intends to make the Marculesti military base available to NATO forces. The ministry's Military Policy Director, Col. Nicolae Turtureanu, stated that Moldova seeks investors to modernize the ex-Soviet airbase for use by... MORE

The command of Russian border forces in Georgia announced yesterday that its warships chased Turkish trawlers from Georgian waters on March 22 and 24. The Russian command said it had handed a protest to Turkey and "informed" Tbilisi. (Interfax, March 25) The unfolding series of... MORE

The head of Kazakstan's Security Council, Beksultan Sarkesov, yesterday objected to the setting up of some irregular border posts, manned by armed and uniformed Cossacks, on the Russian side of the mutual border. Sarkesov told a briefing in Almaty that the action contravenes the bilateral... MORE

As Russian workers gear up for tomorrow's nationwide strike, a government spokesman said the authorities are working "day and night" to complete a cabinet reshuffle and find ways to deal with wage arrears. Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin is due to tell a press conference today... MORE

President Eduard Shevardnadze yesterday warned a visiting Russian Duma delegation that Georgia may terminate Russia's "peacekeeping" operation in Abkhazia if Moscow rejects Tbilisi's proposals to change the troops' mandate at the March 28 CIS summit. Presidential plenipotentiary for conflict settlement Irakly Machavariani elaborated that Tbilisi... MORE

Ukrainian defense minister Col. Gen. Oleksandr Kuzmuk said yesterday that Ukraine would fulfill its commitment to supply 320 T-80UD tanks to Pakistan by itself attempting to produce the components that are being manufactured in Russia. Last week Oleg Sidorenko of the Russian state-owned arms export... MORE