BRIBES BEHIND ARREST OF RUSSIA’S FIRST DEPUTY FINANCE MINISTER.

Vladimir Petrov, First Deputy Minister of Finance, was arrested yesterday in connection with allegations that he accepted a large bribe from an unidentified commercial bank in return for furthering the bank’s interests. (ORT, September 1) Also in trouble with the law is Aleksandr Rutskoi Jr., the twenty-four-year-old son of Russia’s former vice-president, now governor of Kursk Oblast. The young Rutskoi was discovered trying to leave Moscow on a flight to Germany with a large amount of cash (US$12,900) which he did not declare to the customs authorities. (Moskovsky komsomolets, September 1)

TRANSDNIESTER SAYS NYET TO NATO.