Receiving U.S. Ambassador Larry Napper yesterday, Latvian president Guntis Ulmanis expressed "concern over the uncertain position of some Western countries regarding Russia's efforts to reestablish a sphere of influence on the former USSR's territory." In Washington yesterday, the participants in a Baltic-U.S. conference on Baltic... MORE

On an official visit to Chisinau yesterday, Leonid Kuchma signed with Petru Lucinschi a Declaration on the Principles of a Ukrainian-Moldovan Customs Union. The presidents agreed on introducing a free trade regime pending the completion of a customs union treaty, due for signing later this... MORE

. According to Georgian sources, the personnel of the Group of Russian Forces in Transcaucasus may soon be reduced by as much as 70 percent, as part of general cuts in the Russian armed forces. The approximately 300 officers at the Group's Tbilisi headquarters stand... MORE

Commencing an official tour of the five Central Asian countries, NATO secretary general Javier Solana conferred on March 10-11 with Kazakstani president Nursultan Nazarbaev and other senior officials. At a concluding briefing, Foreign Minister Kasymzhomart Tokaev cited Nazarbaev's view that NATO's eastward enlargement is "irreversible"... MORE

Transdniester "state secretary" Valery Litskay yesterday made public a letter to the OSCE's Permanent Mission to Moldova, notifying it that its branch office in Tiraspol is being closed until further notice and banning Mission Chief Donald Johnson, a U.S. diplomat, from entering Transdniester-controlled territory. The... MORE

Azerbaijani President Haidar Aliev's chief foreign policy adviser, Vafa Guluzade, yesterday ruled out any negotiations with Karabakh until the latter recognizes the recent OSCE summit's decision on preserving Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. Also yesterday, Armenian Foreign Ministry chief spokesman Arsen Gasparian stated that Yerevan would not... MORE

A Russian trade official said yesterday that Iraq could soon become Moscow's primary partner in the Middle East. According to Igor Bukharov of Russia's Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations, trade turnover between Russia and Iraq following the lifting of UN sanctions on Baghdad could quickly... MORE

Retired air force marshal Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, currently head of Aeroflot, has been appointed as an advisor to President Boris Yeltsin. Shaposhnikov will oversee Russia's declining civilian aviation safety and will supervise some commercial space ventures. The Soviet Union's last defense minister, Shaposhnikov briefly headed the... MORE

The Russian stock market responded with enthusiasm yesterday to news that President Boris Yeltsin had ordered Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin to reshuffle the entire Russian government. The decree did not require the formal resignation of all government ministers, as was at first reported, but made... MORE

Izvestia claims to have interviewed the authors of Chubais' action program and reveals that his first priority will be to equip Russian houses and apartments with gas, electricity, and water meters. Lest this be thought an unimportant activity, Izvestia points out that when Russia launched... MORE