LIVING STANDARDS MAIN CONCERN OF RUSSIAN VOTERS.

As Russian voters prepare to elect a new president, 48 percent of them say the high cost of living is their main worry. The threat of unemployment concerns 24 percent, with crime identified by 23 percent. In a poll in which respondents could list more than one cause of concern, 18 percent said they were worried by the decline in state authority, 14 percent complained of the collapse of morals in Russian society, and 14 percent identified the war in Chechnya (though only 7 percent expressed concern about the danger of ethnic conflict). The threat of dictatorship worried 4 percent of respondents and Russia’s retreat from socialism 3 percent. (Segodnya, June 27)

Lebed Visits Elite Military Unit.