EARTHQUAKE CLAIMS 2,000 LIVES IN RUSSIAN FAR EAST.

A major earthquakemeasuring 7.5 on the Richter scale destroyed housing, oil pipelines andoil fields, and killed as many as 2,000 on Russia’s far eastern islandof Sakhalin May 27. Initially, local officials denied there was aproblem, Interfax reported, but later reports suggested the full extentof the tragedy. Then Moscow officials–including First Deputy PrimeMinister Oleg Soskovets– converged on the region, rejected outsideoffers of assistance, and said that the region’s oil and gas industrywould be up and running within a few weeks. In Moscow, Yeltsin went ontelevision May 30 to declare May 31 a day of mourning, to offer 50million rubles to each family affected by the tragedy, and to cancelsome of the June 12 Russian statehood celebrations.

Kozyrev Criticizes Serbs And NATO.