TheRussian government has agreed on a draft bill on commercial secretsto help protect firms against industrial espionage, Itar-Tassreported August 16, but its key provisions will give the Russianintelligence agencies access to the documentation

On August 17, BorisYeltsin signed a law that defines the borders of electoral districtsfor the December 17 Duma vote, Russian radio reported. Under theterms of the law, the number of voters in each constituency cannotvary more than 10 percent from the number in any other.... MORE

Agrenade thrown at the headquarters of Aleksei Strakhov, one ofthe candidates in the Sverdlovsk gubernatorial race, wounded 15people, Ostankino television reported August 17. Strakhov, thecurrent governor of the region and a backer of Premier ViktorChernomyrdin's "Russia is Our Home" bloc, now facesformer Yekaterinburg mayor and... MORE

The headof the state security veterans' club told Rossiiskiye vestiAugust 16 that Russian criminals are now better organized,better armed, and better equipped to control the Russian governmentand economy. He said that specialists believe that between 30and 50 percent of the profits of organized crime are... MORE

Novoye vremya(no. 32) confirms earlier press reports that President BorisYeltsin has named Russian security council secretary Oleg Lobovas the "presidential representative" in Chechnya. Lobov,considered by many to be one of the authors of Russian interventionin Chechnya, will retain his current position in Moscow as well,the... MORE

Sayingthey had no complaints about the conditions in which the crewof a Russian plane are being held by Afghan rebels, Russian diplomatsnonetheless pressed ahead with efforts to gain their release,Moscow radio reported August 17. The plane, a Russian IL-76, belongsto Tatarstan's Aerostan company, was leased... MORE

Russianofficials have no information on the whereabouts or fate of AndrewShumek, an American freelance photographer who has been missingin Chechnya since the end of July, Moscow's Echo radio and Segodnyareported August 17. The Russian media accounts implied thatShumek had behaved irresponsibly: they pointed out that... MORE

More Chechen units turnedin their weapons August 17, as required under the terms of theagreement on military questions, but other Chechen units attackedRussian positions more than 20 times. Tension was reported highthroughout the republic, Russian radio reported August 18. TheRussian delegation in Grozny refused to... MORE

A Russian foreign ministry spokesman said August 17 that Yeltsin'ssuggestion that Russia might unilaterally withdraw from the sanctionsregime against Belgrade reflected "Moscow's concern thatBelgrade's peace policy, an important factor in the process ofthe non-violent settlement of the crisis on the territory of theformer Yugoslavia, is... MORE

Members of the Cuny family told a Moscowpress conference August 17 that they had concluded that Fred Cuny,the American aid specialist who had been missing in Chechnya sinceApril 9, was dead. They said that Russian intelligence operativeshad spread the word to several Chechen units that... MORE