AND THEN THERE WERE THREE.

Complete confusion continues in Vladivostok, capital of Russia’s Far Eastern Primorsky krai. The city currently has three claimants to the post of mayor, two of whom are in the hospital. The regional Duma — which initiated the chaos on September 26 by sacking the democratically elected mayor, Viktor Cherepkov, and elevating his deputy, Yury Kopylov, to the post of acting mayor — backed down yesterday at the insistence of the regional procurator. The regional Duma also acknowledged that its attempt to oust Cherepkov had been unlawful.

Both Cherepkov and Kopylov are at present in the hospital. Kopylov rejected the Duma’s decision, saying he will appeal to Russia’s Supreme Court to keep the post. Cherepkov has appointed his deputy, Nikolai Markovtsev, as acting mayor while he is sick. This proliferation of public officials is doing little for the long-suffering inhabitants of Vladivostok, who have been reduced to three hours running water a day in their flats and offices. (RIA-Novosti, RTR, October 22)

Indian Government Approves Purchase of Russian Warships.