FAPSI WARNS OF WESTERN "INFORMATION WEAPON."

FAPSIdirector Aleksandr Starovoitov, told Izvestiya July 28that Western security services are using an "informationweapon" against Russian telecommunications and banking. Hesaid that the use of such technologies against the government’scommunications system could be even more threatening than "weaponsof mass destruction." Such a public appearance by Starovoitov,who usually maintains a very low profile, may reflect Starovoitov’sresponse to his loss of standing with Yeltsin after one of theFAPSI director’s associates was arrested earlier this year forillegal trafficking in artifacts.

First Monument to Chechen War Victims Unveiled.