PETROLEUM INTERESTS BACK CHERNOMYRDIN BLOC.

Russian oil and gas companies announced June 7 that they will back prime minister and former gas industry chief Viktor Chernomyrdin’s electoral bloc but only if the government pursues what the producers called “a policy of rational protectionism,” Moscow radio reported. But the producers themselves are deeply split on many issues–including privatization of the large Siberian oil company–and thus this endorsement may be less valuable than it appears.

Lukin: Lifting Arms Embargo on Iraq Would Hurt Russia.