LEBED SAYS RUSSIA TO TIGHTEN BORDER CONTROLS.

Security Council secretary Aleksandr Lebed told a press conference in Moscow today that Russia will tighten control over its borders and introduce tougher visa and passport requirements for citizens from former Soviet republics "and other countries." This will not be "a new Iron Curtain," Lebed said, but "the country must protect itself: too much is exported from Russia that should not be exported, and some things are imported that we do not need." (Itar-Tass, July 2) Meanwhile, President Yeltsin has remained out of public view today, further fanning speculation about the state of his health.

Baturin on Lebed.