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RUSSIA
KALMYKIAN PRESIDENT VOICES HIGHER POLITICAL
AMBITIONS
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announced in a 14 June
interview with the TV-6 network that he plans to seek the
Russian presidency in 2000, ITAR-TASS reported. At 36,
Ilyumzhinov is one of the youngest regional leaders in the
Russian Federation. According to official records, he is also
the richest, having declared more than $1 million in 1996
income alone. Although Ilyumzhinov violated federal law by
running unopposed for re-election as president of
Kalmykia in 1995, the federal authorities did not seek to
annul that election. Ilyumzhinov faces little political
opposition in Kalmykia, and human rights defenders say his
administration routinely tramples on citizens' rights and
seeks to intimidate opponents. A former employee of
Ilyumzhinov's administration is among the three suspects
detained in connection with the recent murder of
"Sovetskaya Kalmykia" editor Larisa Yudina (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 11 and 12 June 1998). LB
YABLOKO PLANS ALTERNATIVE INVESTIGATION OF
JOURNALIST'S MURDER
Duma deputy Sergei Ivanenko on
12 June announced that members of the Yabloko faction
plan to form a commission to conduct a separate
investigation into the murder of journalist Larisa Yudina,
Interfax reported. Yudina headed the Yabloko branch in
Kalmykia. Ivanenko said the alternative investigation will
seek to put pressure on the government not to halt the
probe into Yudina's murder if high-ranking officials are
implicated. (Yeltsin on 15 June again pledged to personally
supervise the efforts to find those who killed Yudina and
said law enforcement agencies will investigate the case "at
the highest level," ITAR-TASS reported.) Meanwhile, the
Duma on 11 June approved a Yabloko-sponsored motion
instructing the Audit Chamber to investigate the use of
budget funds in Kalmykia from 1996 through 1998. Ivanenko
argued that the audit will aid the investigation into
Yudina's murder. LB
15-06-98
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