Under orders from President Aleksandr Lukashenko, the Belarusan Security Council yesterday launched an investigation into the activities of the Belarus branch of the Soros Foundation and its real or alleged local grantees. Also yesterday, Lukashenko stated at a meeting with former Communist party and government... MORE

The dollar value of Russian imports from and exports to the other CIS countries recorded in January was some 21 percent below the levels of January 1996, according to officials in the Foreign Trade Ministry. (Interfax, March 19) The $2 billion in total trade turnover... MORE

Almost two months after his election as president of Chechnya, Aslan Maskhadov has announced his government. Maskhadov himself will act as prime minister with Movladi Udugov as his first deputy. Many of those appointed held posts in the previous, provisional administration. Kazbek Makhachev remains minister... MORE

In what a Defense Ministry source called "a minor structural reform," President Boris Yeltsin has recently issued a decree creating a position for a first deputy who would take over from the defense minister in the latter's absence. There is speculation that Col. Gen. Viktor... MORE

"Russian-Chechen negotiations have reached a dead end, since Moscow has refused to sign documents it previously agreed on!" Chechnya's acting deputy prime minister Movladi Udugov has told the Monitor. A draft peace treaty, an economic agreement, and an agreement on the circulation of money in... MORE

In another sign that the government may be serious about change, Russia's tax authorities have launched initial bankruptcy proceedings against 90 corporate tax-laggards, including AvtoVAZ, maker of Lada cars, and Yuganskneftegaz, one of the country's biggest oil companies. (Financial Times, March 20) The government urgently... MORE

Ruslan Alikhadzhiev, a brigadier general in the Chechen army, has been elected speaker of Chechnya's new parliament. (Interfax, March 17) Alikhadzhiev, who trained as an economist, commanded the Shali front during the Chechen war. He is a member of the National Independence party, which supported... MORE

Russia's Foreign Ministry strongly recommended on March 18 that the Israeli government reverse its decision to construct Jewish housing in East Jerusalem. (Itar-Tass, March 18) Moscow had made the same request during Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent visit to Russia. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat... MORE

The MiG 1.42 multi-purpose jet fighter program has been put on hold, reportedly because the Russian air force cannot presently afford it. The plane has been under development for a number of years and is said to share many features with the American F-22, including... MORE

A Russian military official yesterday charged that Georgia was stalling on returning 12 Sukhoi ground-attack jets built in Tbilisi in 1991 and 1992 on the basis of a Soviet order placed in the late 1980's. The unnamed source speculated that the Georgians might want to... MORE