RUSSIAN ANTI-TERRORISM COMMISSION MEETS.

Russia’s Interagency Commission Against Terrorism, set up by the government in January to coordinate the anti-terrorism activities of federal agencies, met for the first time on May 6. It includes representatives of the Ministries of Defense and of Internal Affairs, the Federal Security Service (FSB), the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the Federal Government Communications and Information Agency (FAPSI), and the Federal Border Service. FSB director Nikolai Kovalev chairs the commission. His deputy is the director of the FSB’s Anti-terrorist Center, Viktor Zorin. Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, who attended the first meeting, said there is an urgent need for a government-wide campaign against terrorism. He promised to allot the necessary money for the purchase of special equipment for the FSB’s Anti-terrorist Center. (Interfax, May 6)

Moldova Takes the Plunge.