TRANSDNIESTR TROOPS ENTRENCHING IN BENDERY

. In the lastfew days, several hundred Transdniestr soldiers have added tofortification works and gun emplacements around their base inthe city of Bendery, the right-bank bridgehead of the left-bank"Dniestr republic." Transdniestr forces have also steppedup patrolling of the city, Basapress reported July 12. They tookover the base from Russia’s 14th Army in 1993 and have been toleratedby the Russian "peacekeeping" forces in violation ofthe 1992 armistice convention which prohibits any such presence.The Russian side concedes the violation but claims to be unableto overcome Transdniestr’s veto power in the armistice controlcommission.

Yeltsin Proposes Pan-Caucasus Conference