Kalmyk president Kirsan Ilyuzhimov said that hewould join other regional leaders in supporting Russian premierViktor Chernomyrdin's "Russia is Our Home" electoralbloc because such support would be "beneficial" to hisrepublic, Vechernyaya Moskva reported August 19. But Ilyuzhimovsaid he had taken this step with some reluctance because... MORE

Because Russia isnot interested in peace in Chechnya and because formerly pro-MoscowChechens are furious that Moscow has been talking to DzhokharDudayev rather than to them, intense fighting is likely to breakout among the various Chechen factions, a Chechen journalist toldObshchaya gazeta in its August 17-23... MORE

As the Czech embassy in Moscow denied recent allegations byRussian power ministries that Chechen forces had used a base inthe Czech republic to train, the Russian foreign ministry expandedthe charges on August 21. According to Russian media reports,a senior official at the ministry said that... MORE

Accordingto a poll reported by Russian radio August 21, 44 percent of allRussians blame Gorbachev for the end of the Soviet Union; only5 percent blame the organizers of the August 1991 coup. The samesurvey found that 21 percent of the respondents regretted thatthe coup had... MORE

Theday after Russian forces killed 60-80 Chechens in retaking a policestation in Chechnya, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin said onAugust 22 that Moscow still wants peace talks to proceed but willdo whatever necessary to punish those who engage in provocations,Russian radio reported. Using

Duma chairmanIvan Rybkin's left-center electoral bloc held its constituentcongress in Moscow August 21, Moscow radio reported. But the blocfailed to attract some of those it was expected to attract, includingthe Agrarians and the country's labor movement, whose leaderssaid that Rybkin was too pro-government. Rybkin himself... MORE

Turkish prime minister Tansu Ciller completed her latestswing through Central Asia with a stop in Ashgabat where amongother things she opened a new joint enterprise that will producedenim cloth, Ostankino television reported August 18. The Russianstation suggested that this "jeans accord" was the mostimportant result... MORE

To take advantage ofa loophole in Russian tax laws, 20 officers of the Baltic Fleetlisted themselves as ordinary seamen during a visit to Germanyso that they could import German cars into Russia without payingany duty, Moskovsky komsomolets reported August 15. UnderRussian law, sailors but not... MORE

The Kazakh foreignministry sent a formal protest to Beijing after China conductedan underground nuclear test last week, Ostankino television reportedAugust 18. The Russian foreign ministry did the same. Three Russians Found Decapitated in Tajikistan.

On August18, local officials found the decapitated bodies of an ethnicRussian power station operator and his family, Russian media reportedAugust 20. No details were given as to who had killed them.