PARTY FORMED TO SUPPORT LEBED’S PRESIDENTIAL BID.

The Congress of Russian Communities, meeting in Moscow over the weekend, decided to turn itself into a political party to support Aleksandr Lebed’s election campaign. (Itar-Tass, May 26) The party is to be called the Russian Popular Party. One of its leaders, Sergei Glazyev, designated as prime minister in Lebed’s shadow cabinet, told a press conference May 24 that the Yeltsin government had brought the economy to the verge of collapse and that "mass hunger" later this year was a real possibility.(Monitor correspondent’s report) Glazyev’s gloomy predictions clashed with those of deputy prime minister Aleksandr Zaveryukha, who predicted May 27 that Russia will have such a good harvest this year that grain exports may exceed imports. (RTR, My 27)

Primakov Ends Latin American Tour.