RUSSIA’S JUSTICE MINISTER SUSPENDED OVER SEX SCANDAL.

Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin has accepted the temporary resignation of Justice Minister Valentin Kovalev. The action follows the June 20 publication by the Russian magazine Sovershenno secretno (Top Secret) of fuzzy photographs allegedly showing the 53-year-old minister frolicking with nude women in a Moscow sauna frequented by gangsters. The magazine went on to make more damaging claims that Kovalev, a former law professor and member of the Russian Communist Party, has ties to organized crime. He has denied the charges and says he will prove that he was framed. (RTR, NTV, June 21-22)

Russian Military Promised More Money in 1998.