RUSSIA REOPENS PLANE CRASH INVESTIGATION.

The Russian government has reportedly reopened the investigation into the crash of a military An-124 "Ruslan" transport in Irkutsk last December in which sixty-nine people lost their lives. Last month an investigating commission had blamed the accident on the plane’s engines-built by the Motor-Sich company in Zaporishshia, Ukraine. Company officials vigorously denied that the engines were to blame and submitted evidence linking the crash to ice crystals in the fuel. (See Monitor, February 13) Government spokesman Igor Shabdurasulov was quoted as saying yesterday that Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin had also directed that Motor-Sich representatives be included in the new commission. (Russian and Western media, February 26)

Street Incident in Riga Sparks Diplomatic Incident in Moscow.