1.   Five former Soviet republics on Friday became members of a U.N. agency dedicated to helping nations solve food supply and farming problems.

2.   He said some aid was being stolen in neighboring regions, and said the refugee crisis would soon end because the republic was becoming stable.

3.   It lost a large manpower pool when the central Asian republics became independent and has to cope with thousands of student deferments, Duncan said.

4.   Many pro-independence Montenegrins think that without the union with the much larger Serbia their republic could become an international business center like Switzerland.

5.   Russian authorities accuse Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudayev of allowing his republic to become a haven for criminals and fomenting unrest in the region.

6.   Russian authorities accuse Dudayev of allowing his republic to become a haven for criminals and fomenting unrest in the region.

7.   Stability in Georgia would allow the former Soviet republic to become one of the main passageways for Caspian Sea oil to world markets.

8.   The Central Asian republics have become common transit points for drugs, most of them coming from Afghanistan or Pakistan and headed to Russia and Western Europe.

9.   The former Soviet republic is becoming increasingly dependent on nuclear power, since it has no funds to import sufficient quantities of oil and natural gas from Russia.

10.   The impoverished former Soviet republic has become a key gateway for drug traffickers trying to reach Russia and Europe.