MOSCOW PRESSES GEORGIA TO FEDERALIZE.

Russia´s specialenvoy for the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict, Nikolai Medvedev,told Interfax July 26 that Moscow wants Georgian president EduardShevardnadze to allow representatives of Abkhazia and South Ossetiato participate in the drafting of Georgia´s new federal constitution.While obliquely admitting that the two regions want more thanfederal status–they in fact demand at least confederal arrangements–Medvedevsaid that Moscow had told Shevardnadze that excluding the tworegions from the constitutional discussions would "make itimpossible to resolve the conflict."

Kazakhstan Rejects Russia´s Caspian Sea Doctrine.