Vladimir Lukin, former Russian ambassador to the United States, discusses the challenges and triumphs of transition in Russia during the 1990s.

Kataev proposes to Lobov, Chairman of the Expert Council under the President of the Russian Federation, that economic and diplomatic relations with Taiwan can be established through the "buffer" of private companies, as was done in the case of the German company "Binitek".

Boris Yeltsin writes to Kravchuk urging Ukraine to follow through with the implementation of START-1 as discussed per their negotiations in Moscow. He says that Russia will not recognize Ukraine's property right to nuclear weapons in Ukrainian territory and that Ukraine cannot use CIS structures to control its nuclear forces.To aid in the recycling of nuclear warheads in Ukraine, Yeltsin offers Russian assistance.

In a report to the Verkhovna Rada, Tolubko discusses three national security issues. He argues that Ukraine should either develop its own nuclear weapons industry or operate Ukrainian nuclear weapons jointly with Russia. He suggests that Ukraine should try to preserve its status as a space nation and should lease the naval base in Crimea to Russia.

At the opening of negotiations with Russia on the elimination of nuclear weapons from Ukraine, Kostenko discusses Ukraine's main concerns: ensuring reliable operation and storage of nuclear warheads in Ukraine until their liquidation, maintaining the Armed Forces of the CIS' control over the operation of Ukraine's nuclear arms, and the recognition that all weapons on Ukrainian territory or removed to Russia after independence belong to Ukraine which will determine how and where to safely dismantle them.

A diplomatic personal note from President Bush to Gorbachev, thanking Gorbachev for the special attention he gave to Bush's son and grandson during their trip to Armenia, and then touches on the current state of US-Soviet bilateral relations and arms control proposals.