RUSSIAN COMMUNITIES BLOC CALLS FOR PRESSURE ON "NEAR ABROAD."

Dmitry Rogozin, one of the founders of the Union of RussianCommunities, said that he and the bloc’s other leaders, Yury Skokovand Aleksandr Lebed, would insist that Moscow use economic pressureon former Soviet republics to prevent them from "violating"the rights of ethnic Russians who live there, Moscow’s Echo radioreported August 2. He put the number of such Russians at "40to 60 million," far more than past censuses have suggested.Rogozin also indicated that the URC is hoping to form an electoralalliance with Stanislav Govorukhin and Sergei Glaziyev. But whetherLebed will remain in the bloc remains somewhat uncertain: theretired general told Russian journalists August 2 that "Ihave my military uniform on, which means I am going to returnto the army."

Russian Foreign Ministry Reaches Out to Russians Abroad.