A Russian officer who was the unknowing subject of a militaryradiation experiment will get only six million rubles ($1,200)and not the 112 million rubles he had sought for damage to hishealth, Komsomolskaya pravda reported August 23. The papersaid that the officer's victory was probably the... MORE

Russian officers are committing more and more serious crimes, Krasnaya zvezdareported August 24. Most of the senior officers involved havecommitted economic crimes including embezzlement and abuse ofoffice. More junior officers have been involved in assault, murderand rape. The article's title summed up military feelings aboutsuch... MORE

More than a third of the money included in the budget for researchand development and the acquisition of arms passed by the Dumawas never given to the defense ministry, officials there toldMoscow radio August 27. Deputy Minister Andrei Kokoshin said thatthe government must take immediate... MORE

Writing in the August 25 Segodnya, Aleksandr Konovalov,a senior scholar at the Moscow Institute for the Study of theUS and Canada took issue with US deputy secretary of State StrobeTalbott's recent New York Review of Books article advocatingNATO expansion. Konovalov said that Talbott's arguments wouldonly... MORE

. The securityservices of some of Russia's largest banks and other enterpriseshave targeted journalists who publish critical reports aboutthe firms involved, Pravda reported August 24. Among thosewho have received threats are journalists working for SovetskayaRossiya, Segodnya, Zavtra, KomsomolskayaPravda, and Pravda. The paper suggested that someof... MORE

A Moscow city court has reopened hearings on a libel suit brought bySoviet propagandist Iona Andronov against Boris Yeltsin lastyear, Moscow's Echo radio reported August 28. Andronov initiatedthe suit after Yeltsin called him a "fascist" in theEnglish-language version of his memoir--the Russian edition doesnot contain... MORE

Russian officers believe that allowing soldiers to serve near theirhomes--an innovation of the Gorbachev era--has had a negativeimpact on discipline and morale, Samara's Soldat Otechestva(no. 54) said. Soldiers serving near home frequently leave theirposts, and even when they do so with permission, their behaviorangers other... MORE

Newly elected Sverdlovsk governor Eduard Rossel told NTV August 27 that he had organizedan electoral bloc of 54 regions. To be called "TransformedFatherland," the bloc will run against Chernomyrdin's "Russiais Our Home" grouping. But Rossel stressed that his blocwas not anti-Yeltsin and that he supports... MORE

. Agrarian party leader Mikhail Lapshin sharply criticized deputy premier Sergei Shakhrai'sunsubstantiated allegations against Bashkortostan concerningthe training of Chechen militants, Russian radio reported August28. And Lapshin said that Premier Viktor Chernomyrdin's failureto rein in his deputy meant that regional leaders who were backingChernomyrdin and his... MORE

Communist party leader Gennady Zyuganov has attracted a number of luminaries for hislist including Duma security committee chairman Viktor Ilyushkin,former Supreme Soviet chairman Anatoly Lukyanov, two cosmonautsand former general Valentin Varennikov, Moscow's Echo radio reportedAugust 28. Zyuganov also said that he has a "strategic partnership"... MORE