The European Bank forReconstruction and Development is studying the possibility ofcreating a special off-shore tax-free financial zone in Kaliningradto attract Russian funds now flowing to Cyprus and the Bahamas,Interfax-AiF reported last week. An analogous type of off-shore arrangement that was implementedin Ingushetia turned that region's... MORE

Units in the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces are underfinancedand understaffed and consequently servicemen who control the country'snuclear missiles must sometimes be on duty far more than theyshould be, Krasnaya zvezda reported July 22. Far Eastern Yard Halts Repairs to Nuclear Subs.

Citinga lack of funds, the Zvezda shipyards in Vladivostok will no longerrepair Russian nuclear submarines, Interfax-Eurasia reported July21. Yeltsin Disbands Social Policy Council.

In a move thatrecalls the old saying about blaming the messenger, Boris Yeltsinhas abolished a Social Policy Council that often provided socialand economic statistics at odds with official numbers, and hasreplaced it with a new and smaller department of social problemsdirectly subordinate to the president's... MORE

Morethan 3.3 million people will enter Russia over the next two years,many of them ethnic Russians fleeing Central Asia and the Caucasus,Interfax reported July 22. Demographer Natalya Voronina said that2.5 million refugees had already arrived in Russia from the "nearabroad," and she noted that other... MORE

Russian televisionwill again carry advertising, Kommersant-Daily reportedJuly 21. Earlier, the Yeltsin government had banned some advertising,a major revenue source for broadcasters, in order to enhance theregime's control of the news. Meanwhile, Yeltsin's office announcedthat Russian authorities would step up their campaign againstthe pirating of video... MORE

Russia andBulgaria will cooperate to upgrade the Grad rocket launcher andto sell it on the world market, Interfax reported July 24. Anunnamed French company will also participate in the new Spelmashventure. Russians Said to Be Indifferent to Fate of Compatriots Abroad.

A recent poll has found that more than half of Russians livingin Moscow are indifferent to the problems of ethnic Russians livingin non-Russian portions of the former Soviet Union, RespublikaSakha reported June 10. The existence of such attitudes bothlimit the ability of the Russian government... MORE

Since the introductionof the soft peg for the ruble against foreign currencies, theweekly trading volume on the foreign currency exchange in Moscowhas dropped from $1 billion to $300 million, Deputy Premier AnatoliChubais told Segodnya July 20. He said that the declinereflected a decision by Russians... MORE

The ideas of the lateacademician Andrei Sakharov contributed to the disintegrationof the USSR, and are responsible for both Chechen efforts to leavethe Russian Federation and the reaction of some Russians, suchas human rights activist Sergei Kovalev, to the Chechen efforts,according to an article in the... MORE