. The InternationalConsultative Committee of Finno-Ugric Peoples met recently inPetrozavodsk to finalize preparations for the impending Congressof Finno-Ugric Peoples of the Russian Federation, and for a generalcongress scheduled for 1996 in Hungary, Petrozavodsk's SevernyiKurier reported June 22. Comprised of members of the legislaturesof the Finno-Ugric... MORE

. On July12, the Duma passed a law giving Moscow, rather than the regions,control of mineral wealth on the country's 200-mile wide continentalshelf, PIA-Interfax reported. The new law conflicts with earlierlegislation which gave the adjoining regions the right to exploitthis area. Not only will the... MORE

. Workers at a plantin Nizhny Tagil which manufactures railway cars moved a tank intotheir neighborhood as part of a spontaneous protest against thegovernment for failing to pay their employer for 18 months andfor their employer's consequent failure to pay them, Pravdareported July 12. The... MORE

.The Chita power authority has turned off electricity to a numberof divisions in the Transbaikal Military District--including itsheadquarters component--because the army has failed to pay forelectric power in the past, Krasnaya zvezda reported July12. The military appealed to the local civilian government toreverse the cutoff,... MORE

. Tatarstan'scabinet of ministers has suspended the republic's tax paymentsinto the Russian Federation's budget until the Russian defenseministry pays its debts to suppliers in Tatarstan, Russian radioreported July 11. The republic's Prime Minister Farid Mukhamedshinsaid that the ministry owes 30 billion rubles alone for salariesto... MORE

. The FederalEmployment Service, which has been criticized for undercountingthe number of Russians without a job, told Delovoi mir July8 that the rate of unemployment is increasing an average of 5percent a month. In a related development, Russian televisionreported July 10 that only one Russian... MORE

. In its constitutive resolution reproduced in the July11 Delovoy Mir, the Council of Compatriots--the Duma-sponsoredbody to advise on Russian policy in the former Soviet republics--calledon Moscow to use its "economic influence and military power"to guarantee the rights of Russians and other compatriots. Itdefined as... MORE

.Russian prosecutors have charged defense manager Vadim Sintsovwith espionage on behalf of Great Britain, Interfax reported July12. Sintsov was arrested in January 1994 for attempting to sellBritish intelligence secret information on the Russian T-80 tanks,prosecutors said. In another military case, the former chief ofthe defense... MORE

. Despiteearlier statements to the contrary, Moscow almost certainly willbe forced to import at least 10 million tons of grain this yearbecause of a shortfall in the harvest brought on by drought andthe traditional problems of Russian agriculture, the Russian NationalInstitute for Agricultural Economics told... MORE

. Activists from the Soldiers' Mothers Group providedthe Russian defense ministry with a list of 689 Russian soldierswho had been captured in Chechnya, Interfax reported July 12.The women said that some 100-120 of the men had already been released,but defense ministry officials scoffed at the... MORE