KAZAN OPPOSITION REFUSES TO JOIN TATARSTAN PRESIDENTIAL COUNCIL.

Opposition parties in Tatarstan have refused to participate ina new Presidential Council that Tatarstan president Mintemir Shaimiyevhas established to promote civil accord, Kommersant-Dailyreported August 24. One of the reasons is that Shaimiyev has restrictedmembership in the body to those parties which his justice ministryhas registered; they constitute only a small part of the opposition.Meanwhile, neither the Tatars nor Moscow have had any successin freeing pilots held by the Afghan mujahedin since August 4,Russian television reported August 23.

Violator of Russian-Chinese Border Killed.