LEBED VISITS ELITE MILITARY UNIT.

Security Council secretary Aleksandr Lebed paid a visit June 29 to a Russian Airborne special forces regiment based in the Moscow suburbs. Accompanied by paratrooper commander Yevgeny Podkolzin, Lebed reportedly delivered some ten million rubles to the unit’s commander, reportedly to be paid out as bonuses to the regiment’s best soldiers. Lebed is said to be popular in the elite regiment, and the visit was likely directed at ensuring its loyalty to Boris Yeltsin on the eve of the July 3 run-off election. (Interfax, June 29)

Short Stay of Execution.