BUDGET SEQUESTRATION PLANS.

Russian first deputy finance minister Vladimir Petrov said on May 3 that the government’s budget sequestration bill will be presented to the Duma on May 21, with the aim of cutting spending by 108 trillion rubles ($19 billion). While wages and social benefits will not be affected, some budget items will be cut by 30 percent (such as military orders, coal subsidies, credits for deliveries to the Far North), and all other items will be cut by 50 percent. (Interfax, May 3)

Yeltsin Signs Chemical Weapons Bill.