SHAPOSHNIKOV TAKES OVER AEROFLOT.

Aviation Marshal (ret.) Yevgeny Shaposhnikov is the new head of the restructured Russian International Airlines– Aeroflot. The airline has been turned into a joint-stock company whose controlling stockholder is the state. Shaposhnikov emphasized in taking over the post that he is "nobody’s protege, it is the government who appointed me." (7)

Shaposhnikov, who crucially supported Yeltsin during the 1991 putsch, was briefly Russia’s defense minister before being displaced in Yeltsin’s confidence by Pavel Grachev, and went on to serve as the presidential representative to the Rosvooruzhenie arms export firm.

Energy As Foreign Policy Substitute.