MOSCOW PAPER FINDS ESTONIAN COMPLAINTS ON NAMES ABSURD.

Moscow’sSegodnya newspaper on July 18 dismissed as absurd Estoniancomplaints that Russia’s return to the use of Russian-transliteratednames for Estonian cities and towns represents a violation ofinternational law. Meanwhile, the Estonian government refusedto allow two municipal governments to use Russian as the locallanguage of administration, BNS reported July 18. Authoritiesin Narva and Sillamae, two cities where ethnic Russians predominate,had requested such permission in May.