NEW DEPUTY ENERGY MINISTER.

Sergei Kirienko, formerly the head of the Nizhny Novgorod based Norsi Oil, was appointed First Deputy Minister of Fuel and Energy on May 13. He will serve as deputy to First Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, who last month took over as energy minister following the resignation of Petr Rodionov. Nemtsov is following a traditional pattern of appointing trusted colleagues from one’s home region to key positions in the national administration. At the beginning of April Nemtsov had Boris Brevnov, a financial official from Nizhny Novgorod, appointed first deputy president of the electricity monopoly Unified Energy Systems.

The 34-year-old Kirienko trained as financial manager before becoming first secretary of the regional Komsomol in Nizhny Novgorod (at that time, Gorky). He then became an entrepreneur, forming the Garantiya bank in January 1994.

CFE Treaty: Several Countries Maintain Reservations.