The Yeltsin-controlledFederal Government Communications and Information Agency (FAPSI),by virtue of its control over the country's electronic stock exchanges,will be in charge of all security markets, Moskovsky komsomoletsreported July 8. Use of Chinese Labor Sparks Controversy in Far East.

Theuse of more than 15,000 Chinese laborers in Maritime kray factorieshas drawn fire from both local Russians who see the Chinese takingaway their jobs, and from the Chinese who believe the Chineselaborers are being kept in "slave colony" conditions,Segodnya reported July 8.

Several dozen former KGB officers have organized a group called"Felix" to assassinate "corrupt politicians"responsible for the disintegration of the USSR, Komsomolskayapravda reported July 7. A member of this shadowy group toldthe paper that some former KGB officers were involved in drugsmuggling. Earlier, the Felix group... MORE

The Russian interior ministry willclose the higher police schools which had trained many of thecountry's militiamen, and will establish a smaller number of institutesto do the same thing, Moskovsky komsomolets reported July8. Russian Rocket Manufacturer Denies Contacts with Aum Sect.

The Russian enterprise which produces the Proton booster rocketdenied claims by the Japanese Aum cult that the cult had arrangedto purchase one of the rockets, Itar-Tass reported July 10. Officialsat the Khrunichev Space Center, where the rocket is produced,said that they had never had any... MORE

Delegates from Finland,Estonia, Hungary, and several republics and regions of the RussianFederation recently attended in the Komi republic´s capitalSyktyvkar the first international congress of the Associationof the Youth of Finno-Ugric Peoples. The congress discussed cooperationamong those peoples in promoting their national identity, mutualknowledge, and successful... MORE

Estonia's refusal to maintain ties with democratic movementsin Russia after the Baltic states achieved their independenceultimately led to the defeat of democratic forces in Russia andBelarus, Russian Christian Democratic MP Vitaly Savitsky tolda Tartu conference July 10, BNS reported. Such feelings, widespreadamong Russian reformers, help... MORE

In thefirst six months of 1995, the Estonian Migration Fund helped 2880people to leave Estonia for Russia, Ukraine and other CIS states,BNS reported July 10. The fund provides relocation assistancefor those who want to leave. Another Bank Fails in Latvia.

The Latvian Commercial Courtdeclared the country's Aleja Commercial Bank insolvent, BNS reportedJuly 10. The bank will be closed for three months, after whichcreditors may make claims against it. The Court said that theAleja Bank had violated a number of banking regulations and hadfailed to disclose... MORE

Oppositionleader Vytautas Landsbergis denounced a Lithuanian governmentdecision to close the regime's securities protection service,a step he said would open the securities market in Lithuania toall kinds of fraud, BNS reported July 10. Lithuanian governmentofficials countered that the protection service's functions werebeing performed by other agencies... MORE