On an electionswing through Kaluga, Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdinsaid that his government would cut export duties on oil, gas,iron and steel, and machine building products, Russian radio reportedAugust 25. He said the government was currently trying to figureout how to pay for these cuts.... MORE

Citing constitutional problems,Boris Yeltsin vetoes Duma-passed measures on the protection ofradioactive materials, on genetic engineering, and on the legalstatus of numerically small nationalities in the Russian Federation,Russian radio reported August 26. While the first veto is likelyto attract the most media attention, the last may... MORE

YegorGaidar, the leader of the Democratic Choice of Russia electoralbloc, has sparked a media scandal with a letter he and party coordinatorArkady Murashov have sent to potential contributors, Russian radioreported August 28. What has infuriated many Russians is thatGaidar makes explicit what contributors will get... MORE

Russian nationalist leaderVladimir Zhirinovsky said that a group of Russian politiciansare preparing a coup to disrupt the elections and establish a"pro-Western military dictatorship," Ostankino televisionreported August 25. Zhirinovsky said this effort was backed bythe US Central Intelligence Agency. But Yeltsin's press secretarySergei Medvedev dismissed Zhirinovsky's... MORE

Gennady Zyuganovtold Ostankino television August 25 that his Communist Party ofRussia could win up to 30 percent of the vote in this December'sparliamentary election. He said that his party would press forthe formation of a government of national salvation, the end ofreforms, the abolishment of... MORE

Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov saidthat he and his municipal government will support Prime MinisterViktor Chernomyrdin's "Russia is Our Home" electoralbloc, Moscow's Echo radio reported August 26. Luzhkov said thatsuch support might be decisive for that bloc. Chernomyrdin saidon Russian television that he welcomed Luzhkov's support... MORE

Following what the US consulate said were credible reports ofpossible violence against Americans, police in Saint Petersburgincreased security for foreigners, Russian radio reported August25. Nuclear Accidents Seen As Possible in Moscow Itself.

Thedirector of the Russian Analytic Center for Warning about Accidentsat Nuclear Sites told Izvestiya August 23 that poor managementtechniques and security at nuclear facilities in Moscow meantthat a Chernobyl-type accident could take place in the Russiancapital. V. Kuznetsov said that there are now some 1,500... MORE

During a meeting with senior interior ministry officials, Yeltsinsaid that crime now represents a serious threat to the country'ssecurity and noted that past interior ministry efforts to fightit were inadequate, Russian television reported August 25. Hecalled on the ministry to "restore the purity of its... MORE

"The largest cropfailure in Russia in the past 30 years, combined with extremelylow state grain reserves, will likely force the Russian government"to import grain this year, Russian agricultural officials toldKommersant-Daily August 25. They said that this year's cropwould be "no more than" 67-69 million tons,... MORE