DELAY IN CONSOLIDATING COMMUNIST BLOC.

A signing ceremony at which three leading political figures were to throw their support behind the presidential campaign of the official Communist party candidate, Gennady Zyuganov, has been postponed for a week. The official explanation is that Zyuganov is campaigning outside Moscow. The unofficial reason is that none of the three leaders — Viktor Anpilov of the far-left Working Russia, nationalist leader Aleksandr Rutskoi, and Kuzbass Communist lawmaker Aman Tuleev — has yet withdrawn his own candidacy. (Russian Public Television, March 25) Tuleev has been promised a leading post in an eventual Zyuganov administration.

Chubais Says Duma Decision a Foretaste of Things to Come.