* DOWNSIZING THE ARMY:

In a speech to military officers, Boris Yeltsin promised to increase spending on the armed forces and said a leaner, more efficient military was a “tough but achievable goal.” It will surely be tough. Last week, four soldiers in the Far Eastern Military District murdered their commanding officer, and in Budennovsk in the south, a soldier was beaten to death in an apparent hazing incident. One news agency counts 16 murders of soldiers by soldiers so far this year. The Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers says over a thousand servicemen died in “accidents” or by suicide last year, and more than 12,000 conscripts went AWOL.