YELTSIN SIGNS POWER-SHARING AGREEMENTS WITH FIVE MORE RUSSIAN REGIONS.

President Yeltsin last week signed power-sharing agreements between the Russian Federation and five Russian oblasts: Astrakhan, Kirov, Murmansk, Ulyanovsk, and Yaroslavl. (RTR, October 30) This brings to 35 (out of 89) the number of Russian regions signing such treaties. At the signing ceremony, Yeltsin said power-sharing agreements between the federal center and the regions have helped prevent the break-up of the Russian Federation. "Today," he said, "we can see that those who proclaimed a new form of relationship between the central authorities and the regions, and who have stood by constitutional standards and common sense, have been proved right." (Itar-Tass, October 30) The next regions in line to sign power-sharing treaties are Krasnoyarsk krai and the Taimyr and Evenk Autonomous okrugs.

Hard-liners Pledge to Revive Soviet Communist Party.