AZERBAIJANI OMON INFILTRATORS CAME FROM RUSSIA.

Azerbaijani president Haidar Aliev stated in a French press interview that his country’s security forces intercepted and "neutralized" an armed group of ex-OMON special-purpose policemen who had crossed into Azerbaijan last month from Russia. The group had found a haven on Russian territory after the defeat of the OMON’s 1995 rebellion, Aliev implied. Moscow is capable of curbing such "destructive forces which seek from across the border to destabilize Azerbaijan," he commented. (Le Figaro cited by Interfax, January 17)

NATO-Russia Talks Begin.