By empty (8/25/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

In his regular Monday radio interview, Eduard Shevardnadze accused parliament deputies on 25 August of ignoring national interests by absenting themselves from the ongoing emergency parliament session in order to campaign for reelection in the ballot scheduled for 2 November. He appealed to deputies to pass on 26 August the budget cuts and amendments to the Tax Code demanded by the International Monetary Fund. Shevardnadze also deplored parliament\'s failure to pass a bill he proposed designating as a crime attempts to bribe voters.

By empty (8/26/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Tajik Minister of Labor Mamadsho Ilolov told a news conference that domestic and foreign media reports on the number of Tajik labor migrants in Russian jails -- usually given as around 40,000 -- are exaggerated, \"Tojikiston\" reported on 21 August. Ilolov said that Tajik citizens find themselves in jail in Russia because they do not know the Russian laws that are applicable to them. He admitted that there are Tajiks in jails throughout Russia, but added that the number is probably half the 40,000 often given by the media.

By empty (8/26/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

TsIK Chairman Veshnyakov told journalists in Moscow on 25 August that the commission has asked the Federal Security Service (FSB) to provide protection for candidates in the 5 October Chechen presidential election. Chechen Election Commission Chairman Abdul-Kerim Arsakhanov said that once registered, presidential candidates will be provided with security guards and mobile phones. But three days later, Russian presidential aide Sergei Yastrzhembskii said in an interview with \"Rossiiskaya gazeta\" that Chechen presidential candidates would not be provided with security guards.