President Yeltsin will oppose and, ifnecessary, veto the Duma law establishing rules for the upcomingparliamentary elections, Segodnyasaid May 16. Presidential press secretarySergei Medvedev said that Yeltsin believes having half of the deputieselected by party list will mean that the Duma will not "represent thepeople." In... MORE

The Russian government is transferringmilitary equipment from the army to internal troops, who are thus able toplay a bigger role in "peacekeeping" within Russia and outside of it. Dumaspeaker Ivan Rybkin told Russian television May 14 that these internal troopsshould not be subordinated to the... MORE

An articlein Nezavisimaya gazeta May 16 said that Chernomyrdin's new bloc--which thepaper described as the "Nomenklatura Home of Russia"--would not even finishsecond in the upcoming parliamentary voting. Yeltsin's effort to create atwo-bloc electoral system recalls Gorbachev's efforts to formalize thereformer-conservative split within the communist party,... MORE

Federation Council deputy Aman Tuleyev hasorganized an electoral bloc in Kemerovo, a region just outside of Moscow, tooppose the Yeltsin-backed blocs in the capital, Sovetskaya Rossiya said May16. The paper suggested that similar blocs were being created in otherregions as well. Nezavisimaya gazeta May 16... MORE

Mark Deutch, a long-time human rightsactivist and observer, told the May 11 Moskovsky komsomolets that Russia'sFederal Security Service was underestimating the fascist threat in thecountry. A recent FSS report ignores much new information and incorrectlysuggests that fascism is fading rather than growing, Deutch said. Hesuggested... MORE

The Russian justice ministry hasregistered a miners political movement, Delovoy vestnik said May 16. The newgroup will promote the class interests of its members through lobbying andparticipation in the elections. Its leaders said that they would work both asa distinct party and in alliance with... MORE

Russian Foreign MinisterAndrei Kozyrev said that the Russian government would not decide on whetherto go ahead with the sale of nuclear equipment and technology to Iran untilafter the Gore-Chernomyrdin group review the plans, Interfax said May 16. TheAmerican vice president and Russian premier are to... MORE

The Russian foreign ministrysaid May 16 that the creation of a Radio Free Caucasus in Cracow could affectRussian-Polish relations. The station--privately organized and not yet on theair--plans to broadcast information about Russian actions in Chechnya inChechen, Russian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Polish. The Russian foreignministry said... MORE

Neither parliamentarians nor thepublic nor Western creditors really know what the 1995 Russian budget deficitis likely to be, Segodnya said May 16. The paper noted that the governmentwould spend more on state investments than it has announced, althoughSegodnya suggested that "no one knows" where this... MORE

The Russian government collected 1.8 trillionrubles in taxes during the first quarter of 1995 compared with only 3.8trillion for all of 1994, Nezavisimaya gazeta said May 16. While some of thisreflects inflation, most of the gain is the result of tougher lawenforcement. Tax inspectors identified... MORE