INGUSH GOVERNMENT SACKED.

President Ruslan Aushev of Ingushetia has dismissed the government of the north Caucasus republic. Aushev said he was dissatisfied with the government’s management of the economy and that he plans to appoint a younger team. This is the second time Aushev has replaced the government in a year. (Itar-Tass, RTR, December 9) Ingushetia has ambitions to attract foreign investment and become one of the world’s leading off-shore banking havens. A special economic zone, set up in Ingushetia two years ago to attract Russian investors, is to serve as the model for the regime that Moscow hopes to establish in neighboring Chechnya. (Financial Times, December 7)

U.S. Nods to Russia in New Plutonium Policy.