COMMUNIST FRONT CREATED IN AZERBAIJAN.

The “Union of Azerbaijani Patriotic Forces” (UAPF) held its founding conference on July 11 in Baku at the initiative of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan. Three left-wing parties and 10 public organizations joined the Union and approved its program. According to Communist Party First Secretary Firuddin Hasanov, UAPF follows the example of the Russian Communists who created the Union of Popular-Patriotic Forces under the chairmanship of party leader Gennady Zyuganov. The Azerbaijani organization, like its Russian model, presents itself “not as a Communist union, but one of leftist and left-of-center forces.”

The distinction may prove too subtle to grasp since UAPF calls for “the restoration of socialism in the space of the former USSR” and “social-economic integration of the former Soviet republics.” (Turan, July 11) The party and its front apparently hope to influence the presidential election due in October. President Haidar Aliev has rigorously marginalized the Communists.

A NOVEL JOINT MILITARY EXERCISE WITH RUSSIAN PARTICIPATION HELD IN KAZAKHSTAN.