SERVILE RUSSIAN MEDIA PROMOTE YELTSIN.

Pravda complained last week that NTV’s chat-show "Vremechko" had doctored an interview with liberal Communist theoretician Aleksandr Buzgalin to create the false impression that Buzgalin had called for the extermination of "intellectuals and bourgeoisie." (Pravda, May 29) Izvestiya is said to have been too afraid to publish the text of Yelena Bonner’s address at the opening of the museum honoring her late husband, Andrei Sakharov, because of Bonner’s expressed intention of voting for Grigory Yavlinsky. (Radio Liberty, May 28) Meanwhile, Russian television has given blanket coverage to Yeltsin’s activities while virtually ignoring or sneering at other candidates. The only candidate currently being afforded serious coverage is Aleksandr Lebed — who is generally expected to take votes away from Zyuganov. Russian television has yet to inform viewers in any depth about allegations that Albania’s May 26 elections were falsified to favor the right-wing Democratic Party at the expense of the Socialist Party of reformed Communists. The central Russian media, while supposedly independent, remain in reality heavily dependent on state subsidies that editors and journalists fear could be removed at any moment.

Lugar Calls for Reassurance on Admission to NATO.