DOWNSIZING THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT.

Presidential Administration chief Sergei Filatov has announced plans to reduce the size of government bureaucracies–not the one headed by Yeltsin but rather those in the regions, Mayak radio reported May 30. Filatov said that the regional bureaucracies now have 23 percent more employees than they did a year ago; he did not report that Yeltsin’s central apparatus is now larger than Brezhnev’s. Filatov’s plans, which he said were being prepared on Yeltsin’s orders, are likely to offend some regions and be ignored by most.

A New Regional Bloc To Oppose Moscow Parties.