By empty (8/8/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Russian migration officials have said that by 2010 Russia could have as many as 8 million to 10 million Chinese residents, which would make them Russia's second-largest ethnic group, moving ahead of Tatars, RFE/RL's Kazan bureau reported on 7 August. In an article in "Nezavisimaya gazeta" on 6 August on the coming "yellow wave," Natalya Airapetova, a professor at the Institute of Asia and Africa at Moscow State University, was quoted as saying that in China considerable pressure is being created by the large number of unemployed people -- a number that is only going to get larger over the next 10 years. "It is impossible to exclude the possibility that Russian territory could become an attractive area for these millions of unemployed [Chinese]," she said.

By empty (8/8/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The session of intergovernmental working group of Kyrgyzstan on preparation of documents on creation of Regional antiterrorist structure (RATS) of the Shanghai Organization Cooperation was held in Bishkek. Askar Mameev, the deputy Secretary of the Kyrgyz Security Council, chaired the meeting. The press office of the Foreign Ministry of Kyrgyzstan informed that during the meeting mechanisms of implementatin of RATS operation was discussed.

By empty (8/8/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

At its first session on 7 August, Armenia's newly constituted Central Election Commission scheduled presidential elections for 19 February 2003 and parliamentary elections for 25 May 2003, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. The nine members of the reconstituted commission were named earlier that day. Three of them, including previous Chairman Artak Sahradian, were nominated by President Robert Kocharian, and six by political parties represented in parliament.