RUSSIA SIGNS POWER-SHARING TREATY WITH KOMI REPUBLIC.

Komi has become the eighth of Russia’s constituent republics to sign a power-sharing treaty with the federal center. At the signing ceremony in Moscow, President Yeltsin said the treaty gave Komi "maximum responsibility" for its own development, but that Moscow would help the republic to survive in its harsh northern climate. Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin used the opportunity to warn that a Communist election victory in June could put a stop to all such power-sharing agreements. He said the Communist party program promised to nationalize property and tighten federal control over the regions. (Interfax, March 20)

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