ECHOES OF 1991 PUTSCH.

The Federation Council appointed its representatives to that commission, among them Vasily Starodubtsev, a member of the junta which led the August 1991 abortive putsch. Starodubtsev is one of several diehard leftists on the commission (Russian agencies, March 12), whose selection reflects the basic consensus between government and leftist opposition regarding policy toward the Baltic states.

The resolution’s drafter Luzhkov had a warm public meeting in Moscow last month with Latvia’s former Communist party First Secretary Alfreds Rubiks, who in 1991 had attempted to take over power in Riga at the behest of the Moscow junta that included Starodubtsev. Luzhkov — himself anything but a Communist — and Rubiks jointly condemned Latvia’s policy toward Russia and Russians at their meeting.

Armenian Election Preview.