PRESIDENT OF TATARSTAN SWORN IN FOR SECOND TERM, TIPPED FOR CHECHEN ROLE.

Mintimer Shaimiev was sworn in yesterday in Kazan for his second term as president of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan. (Russian Television, April 3) The inauguration was attended by a high-level delegation from Moscow headed by Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. Russian media speculated that the two leaders were likely to have discussed Shaimiev’s possible role as mediator between the Russian federal authorities and separatist Chechen leader Djohar Dudaev. Shaimiev is known to have been recommended for the role by Russian nationalities minister Vyacheslav Mikhailov. Dudaev is said to have responded favorably to the proposal, but to have stipulated that Shaimiev must be given special powers to speak on behalf of the Russian government equivalent to those of a deputy prime minister. Russian Television, reporting this news yesterday, said that such a condition, if it was met, would undermine the idea of Shaimiev as a mediator, since "the role of a mediator and the role of a Russian deputy prime minister are by their nature quite different." The television commentator wondered aloud whether Dudaev was playing for time in the hope of exacting further concessions from Yeltsin in the pre-election period. (RTR, "Vesti," April 3)

OECD Calls on Russia to Protect Investors.