SHOKHIN TO LEAD "RUSSIA IS OUR HOME."

Aleksandr Shokhin, a moderate reformer, was yesterday elected leader of the parliamentary faction of the pro-government "Russia is Our Home"(NDR). (Itar-Tass, September 3) His new post has required Shokhin, 46, to resign from his arguably more influential job as first deputy speaker of the Duma. Shokhin is an economist who worked for Gosplan before joining the Russian government in 1991. He rose to the rank of deputy prime minister in charge of social issues, but insiders say he was an ineffectual minister and he was gradually sidelined until, at the end of 1994, he left the government.

Russian Duma Bans Journalists.