At a moment when Russia is under strong criticism from the Council of Europe for its failure to declare an official moratorium on the death sentence, Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov has issued a decree introducing capital punishment or life imprisonment for kidnapping. Kidnapping cases will... MORE

A delegation of Russian parliamentarians from the "Russia is Our Home" faction has met with Chinese leaders in Beijing over the past several days. The talks constitute an effort to build ties between "Our Home" and the Chinese Communist Party. The delegation, led by Duma... MORE

Russia's Embassy in Tokyo lodged an official protest yesterday with Japan's Fuji TV network over a report broadcast February 26. The report alleged that one of three Russian salvage ships, dispatched to help recover oil from a spill off Japan's coast, had engaged in espionage... MORE

U.S. president Bill Clinton held a 20-minute telephone conversation with Russian president Boris Yeltsin yesterday as part of the ongoing preparations for their March 20-21 summit in Helsinki. According to a U.S. official, the two men agreed on a three-part agenda that will include issues... MORE

While the overall number of disciplinary incidents in the Russian Ground Forces in 1996 was 3 percent less than in previous years, many more servicemen tried to desert or committed suicide. A spokesman for the Ground Forces headquarters said that nearly half of all disciplinary... MORE

A potentially decisive round of inter-Tajik negotiations opened yesterday in Moscow amid uncertainty over what was actually agreed upon by President Imomali Rahmonov and Opposition chairman Saidabdullo Nuri at last week's Iranian-mediated meeting in Mashhad. The two leaders signed an agreement stipulating that each side... MORE

Ukraine is looking for alternate parts suppliers for the T-80UD tanks it is exporting to Pakistan after Russia angrily refused to supply the components normally built in its plants. Chief among these is the tank's main armament -- the 2A46M-1, 125mm smooth-bore gun, which can... MORE

Meeting with Russian president Boris Yeltsin in the Kremlin on February 25, Moldovan president Petru Lucinschi called for accelerating the talks to settle the Transdniester issue in the course of this year and for finalizing the arrangements to withdraw Russian troops from Moldova. Lucinschi urged... MORE

Following talks in Copenhagen yesterday, Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov told reporters that the "ball is now in NATO's court" on the question of future relations between Russia and the Western alliance, and that Moscow awaits a "constructive response" to proposals it passed to the... MORE

Aivars Vovers, Latvia's chief delegate to the negotiations on a border agreement with Russia, announced yesterday that Latvia agreed to major concessions in the February 24-25 round of talks in Moscow. Riga has dropped the issue of the Abrene district (renamed Pytalovo), annexed to the... MORE