YELTSIN BERATES DUMA OVER CHEMICAL PACT.

According to his press secretary, Russian president Boris Yeltsin yesterday expressed regret that "the radical part of the State Duma" had wasted its time on less serious matters and failed to ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention before it entered into force. This failure, he said, put Russia in "a delicate position." A Foreign Ministry spokesman expressed confidence that the Duma would eventually ratify the pact, and urged signatories to take Russia’s interests into account in the interim. (Itar-Tass, Interfax, April 29)

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