MOSCOW TO PRESS CLAIMS ON PROPERTY ABROAD.

Vladlen Sirotkin,chairman of the State Commission on Russian Property Abroad, toldRossiya (no. 30) that the Russian government would stepup its efforts to recover what he said was more than $130 billiondollars in Russian property abroad. According to Sirotkin, Russiashould get some 80 percent of the 1,000 tons of the gold reservesof tsarist Russia that remain in Western banks–holdings now worth$30 billion–and reclaim other property worth $100 billion. Sirotkinsaid that these assets could be used to repay Russian debts toWestern countries. But Kommersant-Daily on August 17 suggestedthat Sirotkin had vastly overestimated the value of Russian propertyabroad; the paper said that the total value of such property–includingany gold reserves–was no more than $9.2 billion.

Nuclear Power Minister Sees Bright Future for Foreign Sales.