CALL FOR A BIGGER DEFENSE BUDGET.

Duma Defense Committee chairman Lev Rokhlin has dismissed a recent government decision that raises defense spending in the draft budget slightly — to 102.8 trillion rubles. Rokhlin said his committee will press instead for the army to get the 160 trillion rubles that it had originally requested. The retired general claimed that the current level of defense spending is destroying the army. (Krasnaya zvezda, November 11. See below)

Rybkin Again Proposes NATO Membership for Russia.