Yeltsin's Sverdlovsk nemesis Eduard Rossel has organized the "Motherland's Transformation" electoral coalition to oppose both Yeltsin-backed Moscow blocs, Segodnya reported May 31. The new association is based on Rossel's allies throughout the Urals region but will seek members from other regions as well. Last month,... MORE

Because Russia faces so many natural and man-made disasters, Izvestiya reported May 31, the Russian state budget includes a special line item for coping with them. This year that budget line includes $500 million. The $6 million that Moscow has allocated for the Sakhalin earthquake... MORE

The Russian government has announced plans to provide housing by the end of 1997 for 27,800 people in the Russian Federation who were exposed to radiation as a result of their work to combat the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster, Rossiiskie vesti reported May... MORE

The first Russian enterprise to declare bankruptcy (in September 1994) is now back on its feet, Kommersant-Daily reported May 31. The paper said that the Samara Aviation Plant had overcome its problems after the courts had named a new, outside arbitration manager. Life Expectancies In... MORE

The State Statistics Committee told Vechernyaya Moskva May 30 that life expectancy for Russians will fall to 58.1 years by the year 2000. Among the reasons for the decline are inadequate medical care, poor nutrition, and dramatic increases in infant mortality and in the number... MORE

The first school to prepare personnel for the Federal Security Service will open just outside of Yaroslav. Its first class will include 100 orphans whose father fought in Afghanistan and other hot spots, and some boys from low income families, Izvestiya reported May 31. Using... MORE

In an indication of Moscow's concerns that the Russian Far East is acting too independently already, an article in the May 25-31 Obshchaya gazeta noted that Beijing would never attack a strong Russia but that "anything can happen if the Far East becomes a separate... MORE

The Reuters news agency is taking control of the news market in Russia, according to the May 25-31 Obshchaya gazeta. It already generates half the information in and about Russia, the paper says. As a result, Russians have lost control of their own information space... MORE

Estonia's director of the citizenship and migration department urged the government to push back the July 12 deadline by which non-citizens must register for residence permits. Only half of the country's 400,000 non-citizens have registered so far, Andres Kollis said. But the Estonian prime minister... MORE

The Bank of Estonia announced losses for 1994, a Latvian insurance company said it was shifting assets to protect its clients, and the Latvian government modified its budget to reduce the deficit, BNS reported May 31. Moscow could exploit this situation, as it did last... MORE