At his Rigatrial for genocide, the former head of the Soviet secret policein Latvia, Alfons Noviks, said he had never used force againstthe population or against prisoners, BNS reported August 2. "Ihave not touched anybody," Noviks told the country. Meanwhile,Latvian authorities refused to register the... MORE

President Leonid Kuchmahas reappointed prominent economic reformer Viktor Pynzenyk tothe cabinet and placed him in charge of strategic economic planning,Ukrainian media reported August 2. Such a move should smooth Kiev'srelations with the IMF and World Bank, which had been unhappywhen Pynzynek earlier had been displaced... MORE

Although Moscow officialssuggested that Russia's new asylum law would be non-political,Izvestiya reported August 2 that the first candidates forasylum under its provisions will be political refugees, includingformer Afghan leaders, the Kurds, and the wife of former Crimeanleader Yuri Meshkov. Foreign Ministry: Ban on Adoptions by... MORE

In response to demonstrations at post offices wherepensions are supposed to be distributed, the authorities in Vladimirregion have hurried to borrow two billion rubles at 105 percentin order to pay the pensions it owes the oblast's retirees, Russianradio reported August 2. Luzhkov Scrambles to Find... MORE

Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkovtold Ostankino television August 1 that his city's food reserveswere 10 to 15 percent lower than at the same time last year, andthat many people were threatened by the price rises caused bythe introduction of new tariffs on imported food. Meanwhile, Moscow'sEcho... MORE

Supporters of the Russianmonarchy have recreated the Supreme Monarchist Council, an organizationthat existed in the 1920s and 1930s among Russian emigres, itschairman Prince Mikhail Chachavadze told Russian radio August3. By so doing, all Russian monarchist organizations throughoutthe world will now have a representative on Russian... MORE

Valery Kolupayev,the chief of the Federal Security Service in Samara, told Sovershennosekretno (no. 7) that Western intelligence services are nowbrazenly sending questionnaires directly to Russian defense industriesto obtain information. The defense industry is in such bad shapethat many managers eagerly answer the questions in the... MORE

The Russian government's failure to support the military-industrialcomplex has transformed that foundation of the state into "amajor source of social instability and economic cataclysms,"Duma economic policy committee chairman Sergei Glaziyev told Birzhevskiyevedomosti (no. 30). Other Duma members echoed his concerns,but the vice chairman of the... MORE

As prices fall on world metal markets, the Russian governmentannounced that it would increase both the supply of strategicmaterials including such metals to Russian firms, and the fundingfor new prospecting efforts, Interfax reported August 1. Social Protests Force Vladimir Oblast to Borrow Money to PayPensions.

EduardSagalayev, the director of the privately-owned television Channel6, told Moskovskiye novosti (no. 51) that Yeltsin's regimeis now seeking to exert even more control over television andradio broadcasts, albeit in different ways than did the Sovietauthorities in the past. He suggested that the means now used--pressurethrough... MORE