“MINE WAR” IN ABKHAZIA.

Nine Russian soldiers were wounded in Abkhazia’s Gali district during the night of July 22 to 23, when their vehicle ran over a remote-control land mine. Moscow and Abkhazia denounced Georgian “terrorists” for resorting to a “mine war.” A similar explosion had killed five Russian soldiers last week. The operating authorization of Russian “peacekeeping” troops expires on July 31, but the troops will almost certainly stay on. In an unprecedented statement yesterday, the Russian military command in Abkhazia urged inviting “other CIS countries” to contribute peacekeeping troops to this operation–evidently as means of spreading the burden and the risks. (Russian agencies, July 23)

NAZARBAEV CONCENTRATES POWER.