RUSSIA SEEN LESSENING PRESSURE ON GAS FLOWS OUT OF CENTRALASIA.

Vladimir Smetanin, the Ukrainian ambassador to Uzbekistan,told Kommersant-Daily August 24 that Moscow had expectedit could control Ukraine by controlling Central Asian gas destinedfor Kyiv that passed through Russia, but that now, Russian "pressureon our people is diminishing."

Ukraine Offers to Mediate Transdniester Conflict.