RUSSIA-BELARUS INTERPARLIAMENTARY BODY FOUNDED.

Belarus parliament chairman Semyon Sharetsky and the chairmen of the two chambers of the Russian parliament, Gennady Seleznev and Yegor Stroyev, signed yesterday in St. Petersburg an agreement establishing an Interparliamentary Assembly of the Russia-Belarus Community (SSR). To be chaired by Sharetsky and comprised of an equal number of members from either side, the Assembly will meet quarterly to coordinate legislative activities of the SSR’s two member countries, alternating the venue between St. Petersburg and Minsk. The Assembly’s powers as initially defined look largely symbolic. (Itar-Tass, April 29 & 30)

Lukin in the Baltics.