NEW PROPERTY MINISTER APPOINTED.

President Yeltsin has appointed Farit Gazizullin as Deputy Prime Minister. He replaces Maksim Boiko, who was dismissed last month after it was revealed that he and other Russian government ministers had accepted large royalty payments from a company owned by Oneksimbank, whose interests they were in a position to advance in various privatization deals. Gazizullin was appointed First Deputy Chairman of the State Property Committee in 1996; before that, he headed Tatarstan’s privatization agency. (Itar-Tass, December 20)

Yeltsin Applauds Russian Security Services.