RYBKIN’S ELECTORAL BLOC ORGANIZES WITHOUT AN IDEOLOGY.

Duma speaker Ivan Rybkin’s electoral bloc–the left of center counterpart to Premier Viktor Chernomyrdin’s right of center “Russia is Our Home”–is gaining adherents but only at the cost of its ideological definition, Segodnya reported June 3. The paper noted that the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia, the Socialist party, the Regions of Russia group, and the Accord party all were supporting it, but the group lacks definition–except as an opponent to Chernomyrdin.

Muscovites Don’t See Parliamentary Elections as Important.