[PEN-L:1296] re-three articles on Russia

["Frank Durgin" <fdurgin1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

1)The Baltic Fleet Is on the Brink of a Riot (Summary of an article in
Komsomolskaya Pravda  taken from Russia Today
({www.russiatoday.com)}Friday, August 28, 1998


Officers and ensigns of the Baltic Fleet on Wednesday sent a letter to the
president, who is also commander-in-chief, in which they called the program
of state house certificates for officers "burst soap bubbles."

The daily wrote that the financial crisis has reduced the value of the
state housing certificates, which the government issued to officers so that
they could secure appropriate housing at the state's expense. The de facto
ruble devaluation has led to a situation in which construction companies or
owners refuse to sell apartments to the military, because the housing
certificates are denominated in rubles.

Experts at Sberbank and the military insurance company believe the
government should make a decision about indexing the certificates with
respect to the dollar exchange rate. The government, however, has other
things to worry about at the moment, the daily noted. And in the meantime,
the situation at the Baltic Fleet is growing more explosive.

about K O M S O M O L S K A Y A   P R A V D A
(circulation 1.6 million). A former Soviet youth newspaper, it is now a
national daily owned by the UNEXIM Group with the largest circulation of
any Russian newspaper. It has a good network of correspondents throughout
the country but provides little analysis.

==================================
2) Demonstrators March on Dagestani Capital (Taken from Russia Today
(www.russiatoday.com)Thursday, August 27, 1998


MAKHACHKALA, Russia -- (RFE/RL) All roads to the Dagestani capital,
Makhachkala, were closed on Wednesday, and the city's entire police force
placed on the alert, according to RFE/RL's North Caucasus correspondent.

Following mass meetings earlier that day in the towns of Kizilyurt and
Khasavyurt to demand the resignation of the Dagestani government and the
clarification of the Aug. 21 murder of mufti Saidmukhamed Abubakarov, up
to10,000 people, some of them armed, are reportedly marching on
Makhachkala.

State Council chairman Magomedali Magomadov returned to the capital after
abandoning plans to hold talks with the inhabitants of three mountain
villages that last week declared an "independent Islamic territory." ( (c)
1998 RFE/RL)




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