RUSSIAN COUNTERINTELLIGENCE POINTS FINGER AT BALTS.

Boris Pratskevich, identified as department chief of Russia’s military counterintelligence, has accused the Baltic states’ services of “actively” supporting U.S. and NATO intelligence-gathering aimed at the Russian navy. In an interview distributed over the weekend, Pratskevich alleged that the methods include infiltration of agents (which he termed “the most dangerous method, being used on an increasingly wide scale”), recruitment of agents from among Russian sailors, and the “new technique” of inviting Russian specialists to participate in Western-financed joint research projects abroad (AP, Russian agencies, February 5, 7).

Pratskevich failed to provide examples of the types of operations he described. The statement’s tenor seemed largely propagandistic, and was probably also designed to inhibit Russian participation in some of the free-wheeling exchange programs which have characterized the post-Soviet era.

RUSSIAN FASCISTS DESCEND ON MINSK.