Rumors that Moscowintends to raise the pension age to 65 are totally unfounded,Pension Fund deputy chief Yevgeny Vasiliev told Moscow radio August21. Not only are there no plans to do so, but he said it wouldbe absurd to raise the pension age when the average... MORE

1,320 Russianofficers who had served in East Germany have been given apartmentsbuilt by the German government in Volgograd, Ostankino televisionreported August 20. The housing was constructed as the resultof an accord between Moscow and Bonn on the withdrawal of Russiantroops from the eastern portions of... MORE

Medicalofficials in Stavropol told Trud August 17 that they lackthe funds to immunize the local population against the spreadof a polio epidemic from neighboring Chechnya. They laid partof the blame for this state of affairs on the costs of recoveringfrom Shamil Basayev's hostage raid on... MORE

Duma deputies from Russia's northwestern provinces met inNovgorod to discuss common problems and a common approach withregard to seeking aid from Moscow, Russian radio reported August18. Among their complaints were that Moscow has not funded itslaw on veterans and that Moscow has failed to distribute... MORE

The 10 republics,krays and oblasts in the Russian North Caucasus have agreed toan extensive program for the redevelopment and expansion of theregion's economic and transport infrastructure, Russian televisionreported August 21. But it is not clear where the money for suchprojects will come from: Russian deputy... MORE

Now that BorisYeltsin has issued preliminary rules allowing Cossack units tobe incorporated into the Russian army and border guards, the Cossackshave begun to organize themselves to take part in such units.One indication of this was a decision by a group of Terek Cossacksto name Russian... MORE

BorisFedorov, chairman of the Duma subcommittee on monetary policyand a former finance minister, has urged Boris Yeltsin to namea new director of the Russian Central Bank, Kommersant-Dailyreported August 18. He suggested two possible candidates:Dmitri Tulin, the Russian IMF director, and Andrei Kazmin, thedeputy finance minister.... MORE

BorisYeltsin's decision to create a Council on Cooperation with ReligiousOrganizations was clearly intended to help him in the upcomingparliamentary and presidential elections, Izvestiya suggestedAugust 18. Its new secretary, A. Krasikov, has worked for a longtime with various religious groups; he told the paper that his"primary... MORE

A delegationof Russian foreign and defense ministry officials will discussthe possible withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Krajina duringan upcoming visit to Croatia, Russian media report. But Russianofficials have repeated that Moscow has no immediate plans towithdraw Russian peacekeepers from Serbian-held Eastern Slavonia.Meanwhile, Moscow and Belgrade... MORE

Russiannationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky told Russian radio August21 that he does not intend to stand for election in a single memberconstituency because "my single-member constituency is allof Russia." Kalmyk Leader to Join Chernomyrdin's Bloc Despite Its "Bolshevik"Propaganda.