RUSSIAN ARMY NOW IN "CRISIS."

Even as Yeltsinpledged to increase wages and housing for Russian military personnel,the Russian army continued to face a crisis which has broughtit to "the brink of collapse," Komsomolskaya pravdareported July 26. The paper said that at the present time80 percent of Russian soldiers were not receiving their pay, thatthe situation at defense ministry headquarters had changed "fromcritical to extreme," that flight time for pilots is nowdown to 4-9 hours a month and that production of weapons and ammunitionhas collapsed, and that even in Chechnya, soldiers get only cerealand hard tack to eat. One commander in the Far East said thatunless his unit received money soon, he would be forced to start"evacuating personnel" from throughout the region. Andon the same day, Russian television reported, navy officials toldthe Federation Council that the Russian navy would "ceaseto exist" by 1997 unless the government provided it withfunds.

THE INDIFFERENT WILL DECIDE THE RUSSIAN ELECTIONS.