— MILITARY REFORM:

The Defense Ministry says the Finance Ministry last disbursed money for food in June and the armed forces have exhausted their credit with commercial suppliers. In Kaliningrad, Russian ground troops and the Baltic Fleet have accepted food aid from Lithuania. The colonel in charge of provisioning says Moscow is no longer financing food purchases. The governor of Kaliningrad announced suspension of tax and transfer payments to Moscow. … The Federal Security Service (FSB) has a special anti-terrorist unit trained in protection of nuclear sites. The unit has seen action twice in recent weeks, freeing schoolchildren taken hostage by sailors at an arctic nuclear-testing station, and again on board a nuclear submarine, where a sailor who had murdered several shipmates barricaded himself in the torpedo room.