YELTSIN GIVES INTERIOR MINISTER "CARTE BLANCHE" TO FIGHT ECONOMIC CRIME.

President Yeltsin has told deputy premier Anatoli Kulikov, who is also minister of internal affairs, to carry out "stringent measures" to crack down on tax evasion and other forms of economic crime, Kulikov said after meeting with the president yesterday. (Interfax, February 13) Kulikov was recently put in charge not only of the Interior Ministry forces but also of the customs and tax police and was charged with stepping up the fight against organized crime.

Russia to Commission Nuclear Reactors… Maybe.