Saying that there were few reasons to celebrate International Freedom of the Press Day, Glasnost Defense Fund head Aleksei Siminov described the difficulties journalists had to face in Chechnya, Moscow radio reported May 4. Siminov said that 105 journalists had been arrested by Russian authorities... MORE

An Ingush commission has established that "at least" 95 residents of the Chechen city of Samashki were killed when Russian forces occupied it, Obshchaya gazeta (no. 17) reported. The paper said that four of the dead were local ethnic Russians, and it noted that 80... MORE

More than 70 regional officials have announced their support for Prime Minister Chernomyrdin's new political bloc, "Russia is Our Home," Rossiiskaya gazeta said May 4. Three republic leaders--from Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, and Kabardinia-Balkkaria--attended the organizational meeting, as did the governors of Samara and Omsk, Segodnya reported... MORE

Support from regional leaders may be critical because they often control the provincial press, and that part of the media now reaches more people than do Moscow papers, Obshchaya gazeta (no. 16) said. The paper noted that regional papers for the first time had a... MORE

The upper house of the Russian parliament is debating the Duma-passed election law, Kommersant-Daily reported May 5. The paper said that the deputies were very much divided, with those backing the government favoring the even split between single-member constituencies and party list members and those... MORE

Claiming that a Duma-passed law would subject them to the dictates of the large FITUR trade union organization, pickets from the Independent Miners Trade Union and the Association of Socialist Trade Unions demanded that the Federation Council reject the law. Their leaders said that the... MORE

In a further concentration of authority within his own presidential staff, Boris Yeltsin has established an Interdepartmental Commission on Public Safety and Combating Crime and Corruption, Rossiiskiye vesti reported May 4. The new group will be headed by Justice Minister Valentin Kovalev. Prosecutor: Moscow Mafia... MORE

Russia's Deputy Procurator General Oleg Gaidanov told Chelovek i zakon (no. 4) that Russians, not Caucasians, form the core of the mafia in Moscow. While there are some Caucasians involved, it is wrong to focus on them or to assume that expelling Caucasians as such--as... MORE

The Russian defense minister has asked the government to allow the army to take over arms sales abroad, Interfax reported May 4. In the wake of the scandals at Russia's current arms sales agency, Rosvooruzheniye, such a proposal may garner some support. But it is... MORE

The Russian Federation will close 100 additional coal mines in the near future, Finansovye izvestiya said April 4. The shutting down of inefficient and unprofitable mines cost 80,000 workers their jobs in 1994 and 5,000 more already this year, the paper said. Employment in the... MORE