COURT NIXES YELTSIN PLAN.

The chairman of the Constitutional Court, Vladimir Tumanov, has squelched Yeltsin’s plan to speed up the appointment of the new government. Yeltsin had already reached tentative agreement with Duma speaker Gennady Seleznev that he would submit his choice of prime minister (Viktor Chernomyrdin) to the Duma on August 1. This would allow the Duma to return from its summer recess immediately after the presidential inauguration on August 9, and to debate Chernomyrdin’s appointment as early as August 10. Tumanov has put a spoke in this timetable by declaring it unconstitutional. (Interfax, July 29)

Lukashenko Threatens Crackdown, Extended Rule.