TALK OF ELECTION FRAUD ON THE RISE.

"The closer the elections, the greater the speculation about the possibility of fraud," Izvestiya noted June 8. Communist party leader Gennady Zyuganov told a television interviewer last night that he will accept the official results only after double-checking them against those of the monitors deployed by his own supporters. (NTV, June 11) The conspiratorially-minded newspaper Zavtra asserts in its latest issue that recent allegations of electoral fraud in Albania were closely studied by the Yeltsin team. "A group of specialists from the Federal Security Bureau returned from Tirana and reported that, with skillful work, it was possible to falsify the vote by as much as 20 percent. More important, although the West would note the irregularities and express concern, it would take no action," the paper claimed. (Zavtra, No. 23) The same newspaper warned Zyuganov that, if he loses and his supporters take to the streets in protest, the Kremlin would use their actions as a pretext to ban the Communist party altogether. Such a possibility was suggested earlier this week by presidential advisor Georgy Satarov. Claiming that the Communist party was forming "red brigades," he said the Kremlin was "collecting evidence to file charges against the KPRF and have this party banned." (NTV, June 10)

Moscow Regrets Chinese Nuclear Test.