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hot gas seeped through joints in both rocket boosters during the launching of the space_shuttle_columbia two weeks ago but did not damage the o rings or endanger the shuttle or its crew , nasa said today . nonetheless , the problem could delay the space shuttle atlantis 's flight to the russian space_station mir and keep dr . shannon lucid , a physicist and nasa astronaut , in orbit aboard the mir longer than planned . dr . lucid , who is scheduled to return to earth in august aboard the atlantis , could end up spending an extra month there if the shuttle 's solid fuel rocket boosters have to be replaced . the space agency discovered the problem this week after retrieving the columbia 's two boosters from the atlantic_ocean . sometime during the two minutes that the boosters burned , rocket gas leaked into some of the j joints , which connect sections of the booster_rocket that contain fuel , said the shuttle manager , tommy holloway . but the gas never got past o rings that had been put there as a thermal barrier , he said . it was different o rings that failed on the space shuttle challenger in 1986 , causing an explosion that killed all seven crew members .

has a location of russia

the space shuttle discovery set the dark florida sky ablaze just after midnight today as it began a historic mission in which a winged american spaceship is to rendezvous with a russian space_station for the first time . carrying the first woman to pilot a nasa shuttle , the second russian astronaut to fly on one and four other crew members , discovery blasted off on time at 12 22 a.m . through the five minute window available each day for a shuttle trying to meet the russian mir_space_station orbiting about 200 miles above the earth . disovery 's eight day flight is the first of eight missions the national_aeronautics_and_space_administration hopes to carry out this year and the 67th of the shuttle program . the rare nighttime blastoff was delayed a day by the failure of a navigational unit , which had to be replaced . on monday , in a complex orbital ballet , the 122 foot long discovery is to come within about 30 feet of the 108 foot russian outpost in a dress_rehearsal for the first shuttle station docking , scheduled for june . repeatedly during the next two years , the winged spaceships and mir are to dock , with crews being transferred to the space lab . the working sessions there will be warmups for the construction of an international_space_station to be inhabited by americans , russians , japanese , europeans and canadians . the east west project is the space agency 's principal new endeavor at the turn of this century . its construction is to begin in late 1997 . today , the launching window was tight because discovery had to go into a special orbit to rendezvous with the nine year old mir . if the five minute opportunity had been missed , it would have been 24 hours before another launching could have been attempted . a small but important part of the mission is to get under way today as the astronauts launch a group of tiny metal objects into space . observers on the ground using radar and telescopes will try to track the objects in an effort to get a better understanding of the extent of space debris . thousands of dead spacecraft and abandoned metal parts , as well as an unknown number of smaller ones , perhaps ranging to the millions , are orbiting the earth . the junk threatens working spacecraft . the six metal targets are to help establish the smallest things that can be observed from the ground , and thus increase the reliability of space debris estimates . throughout the eight day mission , scientific_experiments will be performed in the shuttle 's payload bay in a commercial laboratory module , spacehab , which is making its third flight . among the 20 odd experiments is an agricultural one sponsored by the university of wisconsin , in which wheat seedlings will be grown . someday , nasa hopes to use plants routinely to help purify air and water and to be a source of food for astronauts . on tuesday , a day after the brief mir rendezvous , the discovery astronauts are to deploy a recoverable 2 , 600 pound satellite , spartan . on thursday , the seventh flight day , the astronauts are to retrieve the spartan satellite , and two of them are to don spacesuits for an excursion into space planned to last nearly five hours . the two , dr . bernard a . harris jr . , a physician , and dr . c . michael_foale , an astrophysicist , will test newly modified spacesuits meant to keep astronauts warmer . they will practice handling large objects as preparation for the eventual assembly of the big international_space_station . next friday , the astronauts are to hold a news conference from space and get ready for their fiery re entry into the earth 's atmosphere . discovery 's commander is comdr . james d . wetherbee of the navy , who is making his third shuttle flight . the pilot is lieut . col . eileen m . collins of the air_force , who was born in elmira , n.y. , and is making her first space trip and is the first woman to be a nasa pilot . the flight , colonel collins said on arrival sunday at the kennedy_space_center , " is really a dream come true for me . " also on board are dr . janice voss , an aerospace engineer and col . vladimir georgievich titov of the russian_air_force , who spent more than a year in space on three russian missions . he is the second russian to fly on one of america 's shuttles . the first was sergei krikalev , who flew a year ago . discovery is to land feb . 11 at the kennedy_space_center in florida .

has a location of russia

international health officials and scientific experts say that strains of tuberculosis resistant to various drugs are spreading faster than anticipated overseas and that a new treatment strategy is needed to prevent what has already become an epidemic from spinning out of control . for five years , the world_health_organization has recommended that patients with ordinary tuberculosis take up to four drugs , every day , for six to eight months , and that doctors and health workers watch them take their medicine and directly monitor them to insure that they are cured . the strategy has become widely known as dots , or directly observed therapy short course . but in a new report , doctors from the harvard_medical_school and the open_society_institute , a foundation financed by george_soros , say more intensive treatment is needed in the former soviet_union and other areas where rates of resistant_strains are relatively high . in the intensive regimen , patients are required to take many additional expensive drugs over a longer period of time . strains that are resistant to multidrug programs afflict on average 2 percent of victims , and nowhere more than 30 percent . the recommendation is being supported by the world_health_organization , whose director general , gro harlem bruntland , is scheduled to be present today , when the 408 page report is made public in new york . but some health experts fear that the new approach could worsen the problem . in the new strategy , called dots plus , doctors watch patients take up to seven drugs daily , for 18 to 24 months , at far greater cost per cure . ''this is a landmark shift by the who , the most exciting step forward in the global effort to control tb in 25 years , '' said michael d . iseman , director of tb services at the national jewish medical and research center in denver , a leading expert in tuberculosis treatment and research and a member of the advisory board of the group that wrote the report . the report , ''the global impact of drug resistant tuberculosis , '' has a foreword that offers an unusual endorsement from who 's leading specialists for the new treatment . ''in our zeal to implement dots everywhere , '' said dr . mario c . raviglione , the who coordinator for bacterial and viral diseases , who signed the preface , ''there was no clear policy in the program to take care of multidrug_resistant tb . now we realize that something more must be done . '' dr . raviglione said he did not know how much more the strategy would cost , because his group was just starting to study the problem . but he conceded that the expanded strategy would almost certainly cost hundreds of millions of dollars , ''perhaps 1 billion more'' than the current treatment , which is already underfinanced , many doctors complain . in interviews , several experts said the who recommendations were highly likely to intensify an already emotional debate on expanding the recommended treatment for some patients at a time when two million people a year die worldwide for lack of adequate care . at a meeting last month in madrid , opponents of the expanded strategy argued that emphasizing the treatment would shift desperately needed resources away from patients with tuberculosis that was not drug resistant . ''the who declared tb a global emergency in 1993 , '' dr . thomas r . frieden , a who medical officer for tb in southeast_asia , said in a telephone interview from new delhi . ''but six years later , fewer than 20 percent of patients get even basic treatment . '' dr . frieden said efforts to combat multiple resistant_tb should focus on its cause , inadequate treatment of ordinary tuberculosis . tuberculosis is known to acquire resistance to drugs that are given to patients inefficiently . if the wrong drugs or doses are given for too short a time or if the patients stop taking them , the bacteria that survive may become drug resistant . dr . frieden and other experts fear that if new more effective drugs are also given badly , the multiresistant strains will eventually become unresponsive to those drugs too , making a bad situation worse . the director of the program in infectious_disease and social_change at the harvard_medical_school , paul e . farmer , primary writer of the report , agreed that poor treatment had led to many cases of multiple resistant_tb . but he said inadequate treatment was no longer the sole cause of such strains . new data , he added , suggest that in some areas drug_resistant strains are spreading on their own person to person , even in countries with good control programs . he said multiresistant tuberculosis now threatened not just poorer countries , but also europe and , eventually , the united_states . the study finds that multiresistant tb has been reported in 100 countries and that its rates are rising faster in some countries than officials had anticipated . in the ivanovo oblast in russia , a poor province with a vast prison population and shoddy public_health , the who reported in 1997 that 4 percent of tb patients had multidrug_resistant strains . according to the new report , such cases now total 8.9 percent of the tb cases . ''figures like these show that multidrug_resistant tb in some places is now out of control , and it shows we were doing something wrong , that more than dots is needed in such areas , '' said dr . raviglione . but dr . frieden , who was the tb control director in new york from 1992 to 1996 , pointed out that two thirds of the people with multiresistant tb had developed it because the ivanovo program did not insure that patients took their medications . ''if medicines are n't being taken , '' he said , ''it does n't matter if you 're being given two or four or seven drugs . and if resistance to reserve drugs emerges , our last line of defense against tb will be lost . '' dr . farmer agreed that the failure to take drugs remained a major problem in russia and elsewhere . but , he added , the ivanovo study also shows that ''the drugs patients received were inadequate , '' which is primarily why just 5 percent of the multidrug_resistant cases were cured . dr . raviglione said adopting a dots plus strategy would not mean who would abandon its current dots strategy . in fact , both experts stressed the need to insure that doctors everywhere made sure that patients took their drugs . rather , the experts said , the report stresses the need for supplemental drugs and therapy where multiresistant strains already exist . dr . farmer said his team began to question the currently recommended therapy about five years ago , after a colleague who was a relief worker had died in a hospital in massachusetts after having contracted drug_resistant tb in peru , which has an excellent dots program . ''that made us think that the one size fits all treatment approach was not universally effective , '' dr . farmer explained . ideally , the scientists agreed , there would be no competition among resources for treating nondrug resistant and drug_resistant tb . but in view of the widespread indifferent response to the threat , said dr . lee b . reichman , executive director of the national tuberculosis center in newark , n.j. , some doctors feared that there would be a contest . ''dots plus is a sexy new strategy with harvard behind it , and like any sexy new strategy there is some fear of it , '' said dr . reichman , who contributed to the report . ''but i 'm on the who 's tb working group , and we 've made it clear that wo n't happen . '' the study shows that multidrug_resistant tb emerged in peru , despite the excellent control program . in peru , dr . farmer and his colleagues were able to cure 85 percent of supposedly incurable multidrug_resistant patients by giving them up to seven drugs over 24 months . the treatment cost from 280 to 4 , 900 , higher than the cost of the currently recommended therapy , but far less than what such treatment would cost in the united_states . dr . reichman estimated that it cost his center in newark an average of 4 , 800 a patient and six months to cure normal tb without hospitalization , as opposed to 200 , 000 and up to two years of treatment , including lengthy hospitalization , to cure patients with multidrug_resistant strains . in new york city in the early 1990 's , an outbreak of multidrug_resistant tuberculosis cost up to 1 billion in extra health costs , dr . reichman said . because new york and other major cities have bolstered surveillance , treatment and control , rates of multidrug_resistant cases have recently been declining in the united_states . last year , according to the federal centers_for_disease_control and prevention , just 1.1 percent of american tb cases were multidrug_resistant . ''the situation overseas has grown far more dangerous , '' said alex goldfarb , a microbiologist at the public_health research institute , a private health group in new york and a co author of the report . ''because there are ever more drug_resistant tb cases in hot zones , ''each case is a walking time bomb . '' in one of its many ominous predictions , the study warns that even if the recommended dots treatment strategy is put in place , 171 million additional cases and 60 million deaths can be expected between 1998 and 2030 . the worst case situation predicts 249 million additional cases and 90 million deaths , even with the currently recommended treatment .

has a location of russia

russian and american astronauts clambered out of the star crossed mir this morning and began a complex and potentially hazardous space walk to help restore the space_station . clad in a russian made spacesuit , the american astronaut michael_foale was the first to venture through the hatch . he was followed by anatoly solovyev , the mir commander . the purpose of today 's operation was to find the hole punched in the mir during a collision june 25 with an unmanned space cargo craft and undertake other repairs . the team 's space walk was scheduled to last six hours enough time for the mir to circle the earth four times and for temperatures in space to soar to hundreds of degrees ( when the mir is in sunlight ) and to plunge to minus 150 degrees ( when the mir passes into darkness ) . the space walk is to be quite elaborate . to move around the mir , mr . foale will use a special crane to hoist mr . solovyev toward the damaged section of the spektr module so he can search for a tear or puncture . frank culbertson , a senior nasa official , described the mission as being of ' 'moderate risk . '' ''we do n't know yet , of course , what the holes look like and what repair procedures might be in the future , '' he added . ''but this is the first step in trying to gain that understanding . '' if the hole , or holes , can be located , it would be repaired on a future mission , perhaps using equipment taken t to the mir by the american space_shuttle . mr . foale has had extensive training for the space walk , including practice in using russian space suits . nasa officials said he had about 148 hours of ground based training and another 44 hours of training in orbit . still , every space walk is something of a venture into the unknown . when american astronauts conduct space walks , they generally do so within the open bay of the space_shuttle . and jerry linenger , the only other american astronaut to carry out a space walk in open space outside the mir , has described his experience as unnerving , if fascinating . ''the whole time it felt like i was falling from the edge of a cliff , '' he observed . ''it was a remarkable feeling , and you had to keep yourself under control and keep talking to yourself and saying , 'it 's o.k . to be falling . ' '' beyond the psychological stress , the main hazards include mechanical problems , the risk that an astronaut 's tether to the mir might somehow come loose , sending him drifting out into space , or the possibility that one could snag his suit on a ragged portion of the mir . russian and nasa officials , however , say the dangers are manageable and the mission valuable training for the new international_space_station that is being built . greg harbaugh , a nasa specialist on space walks , said that mr . foale 's space walk would help the americans learn about the russian space_suit , safety practices and the disorienting experience of conducting a space walk outside the shuttle bay . to be sure , the crew of the mir has already had more experience than they would have liked in making emergency repairs in space . since the june 25 collision between the mir and an unmanned cargo craft , life aboard the mir has been a continual battle against breakdowns . the crew has already reconnected electrical_cables that were disconnected after the collision . they have repaired oxygen generation systems and struggled successfully to stabilize the spacecraft after the mir 's computerized navigation system was inadvertently disabled . but there is still plenty left to do . not all of the lost power has been restored because the crew has not been able to direct the solar arrays at the sun . they were to try to turn at least one of the four solar arrays on the module today . the team would also like to install a valve on the exterior so a new system for removing carbon_dioxide can be connected . then there is the problem of finding and fixing a hole , a task that has never been accomplished in space . the mir crew began final preparations for today 's mission by listening to a concert in the grand hall of moscow 's tchaikovsky conservatory , part of the elaborate celebrations of moscow 's 850th anniversary . the music was transmitted to the space_station by ground control . they were instructed to go sleep by 7 10 p.m . on friday and wake up three hours later . as a precaution , the flight_engineer , pavel vinogradov , was to go to the soyuz rocket docked along the mir , as mr . foale and mr . solovyev passed through the hatch of the kvant 2 module . mr . foale , who brought a camera and tools , attached a tether to a handrail on kvant 2 so that he does not float away into space . after handing mr . solovyev his tools , he was to make his way over to the crane and use it to lift mr . solovyev to the cone shaped area of the spektr . there are two areas that the astronauts planned to check for damage . one is near an external radiator . the other is near the base of a solar array . the astronauts were to use special tools to look for rips in the thermal insulation and cameras and video recorders to document the damage . they originally planned to attach handrails on the outside of the mir to make today 's mission and future operations easier . but russian officials said that this part of the mission was being canceled to limit the spacewalk to six hours . the crew will also try to retrieve a radiation monitor attached to the mir as part of a scientific experiment by mr . linenger during a space walk in april . every step was to be monitored by the mission_control_center here . the astronauts got a taste of how unforgiving their colleagues and the russian media can be this week when the chief russian coordinator of the mir program put the responsibility for the june 25 collision squarely on the previous russian crew . the crew 's allies in the russian space_program rushed to their defense and on friday the crew vasily_tsibliyev and alexander lazutkin were rewarded with plots of land , medals and free mobile telephones . still , the pain of the controversy lingered . the june 25 accident , mr . tsibliyev insisted at his award ceremony ''came unexpectedly and was not the responsibility of any one man . '' correction september 8 , 1997 , monday an article on saturday about a spacewalk from the mir_space_station misidentified a russian astronaut . he is anatoly solovyov , not vladimir solovyov , no relation , who is a russian space official .

has a location of russia

the shuttle atlantis and the russian space_station mir began five days of joint operations today as the american astronaut john e . blaha got ready to return home after four months on the russian craft . atlantis and mir are linked , forming a 265 ton space complex , after a nearly flawless rendezvous and docking on tuesday night . atlantis locked onto mir 's docking_module at 10 54 p.m. , eastern standard time , 240 miles above central russia . the shuttle commander , michael a . baker , a navy captain , maneuvered his ship into place as mr . blaha , a retired air_force colonel , peered through a mir porthole and gave a thumbs up sign . mr . blaha said he had seen atlantis approaching as a shining star until the sun suddenly rose and the ship came into full view . ''it was a beautiful sight , '' he said enthusiastically . ''contact and capture , '' captain baker radioed as metal docking rings aboard each spacecraft joined . electric motors then drew the craft together , completing the docking process and creating an airtight seal . the opening of the hatches between the two vehicles was delayed slightly while atlantis astronauts hunted spare batteries for a hand held microphone that would enable the crews to speak to the ground , said bob castle , mission operations director at the johnson_space_center here . ''we waited on the hatch to set everything right , '' he said . when the hatches between atlantis and mir swung open at 12 57 a.m . today , wild cheering erupted among both crews , and there were exchanges of hugs and handshakes . then all nine astronauts six from atlantis and three from mir went into mir 's core module for welcoming ceremonies that resembled an impromptu party among old friends . valery korzun and aleksandr kaleri , the russian crewmen who have been with mr . blaha during his four month stay aboard_mir , welcomed their visitors with a traditional russian offering of bread and salt . and the atlantis crew presented bags of fresh_fruit and other gifts to their hosts . mr . blaha 's tour on mir ended officially at 4 46 a.m . today , when he and his replacement , dr . jerry l . linenger , a physician scheduled for a stay of four and a half months , exchanged gear . before going to sleep , both crews got busy shuttling between the two craft some of the three tons of supplies they will exchange during their five days of joint operations . atlantis was carrying 3 , 600 pounds of food , equipment and other supplies for mir , and is also to leave 1 , 400 pounds of fresh_water that it will have produced on board before departing with a ton of material from mir . russian space officials have said that because of their financial problems , they have come to rely on american shuttle visits to ferry supplies and equipment to mir . the visits are part of a program to give united_states astronauts experience with long stays in space before the building of the international_space_station , scheduled for completion in 2002 . mr . blaha , who said he had enjoyed his stay on mir but was eager to get home , was enthusiastic about international cooperation in space and how routine it had become , with the fifth visit of an american shuttle to mir . ''this is kind of neat , '' he said . ''shuttles coming up here and docking and bringing stuff and people , and then shuttles leaving and taking stuff back down . we are truly in the space_station business . '' while aboard_mir , dr . linenger is to conduct numerous experiments and make a six hour spacewalk , the first from the russian station by an american astronaut . during most of his stay , he will be accompanied by a new crew of russian astronauts mr . korzun and mr . kaleri , who have been aboard_mir since last aug . 19 , are to depart shortly . atlantis , carrying mr . blaha , is to depart mir on sunday and return to the kennedy_space_center in florida next wednesday .

has a location of russia

an american doctor and her daughter were being treated in a moscow hospital on tuesday after showing signs of thallium poisoning . thallium is a highly toxic element with a history of use in pesticides and in murder . both women , who emigrated from the soviet_union in the 1980s but recently returned to russia for a vacation , were severely sickened but their lives are not in danger , medical officials here said . ''they have positive dynamics , and their condition is improving , '' said dr . viktor m . kaznacheyev , the chief physician at the sklifosovsky clinic here , said in a telephone interview . the women have been treated at the clinic since falling ill on feb . 24 . dr . kaznacheyev said the victims , dr . marina kovalevsky , 49 , and her daughter , yana , 26 , of studio city , calif . , were under the supervision of poison specialists . ''they were in a serious condition when they were delivered here , '' he added . citing privacy concerns , he declined to discuss further details beyond saying that their symptoms were consistent with thallium poisoning . dr . kovalevsky is an internal_medicine specialist in private practice in west_hollywood , calif . , and has had admitting privileges at the cedars sinai medical center since 1999 , a spokeswoman for the hospital said . she was educated in the 1970s in kemerovo , an industrial and coal_mining region in southern siberia . she returned to russia on feb . 14 for a vacation and was due back at her office to see patients on feb . 26 , dr . arkady stern , a colleague covering for her at her practice on santa monica boulevard , said by telephone . the circumstances of the poisonings are unclear , but it appears that dr . kovalevsky and her daughter ingested the poison while in moscow . ''she left los_angeles in perfectly good health , '' dr . stern said . the mystery of the poisonings , after the fatal poisoning in london last year of alexander v . litvinenko , a former k.g.b . officer and outspoken critic of the kremlin , attracted immediate attention and speculation in the russian news_media . mr . litvinenko 's initial diagnosis was thallium poisoning , but his doctors later determined that he had ingested radioactive polonium . before dying , he publicly accused president vladimir v . putin of having had a hand in the poisoning . the killing remains unsolved . thallium , an element with no taste or odor , has been used as an ingredient in insecticides and rat poison , and as well by criminals and intelligence services , including those of the soviet_union and of iraq under saddam_hussein . published reports have said that the central_intelligence_agency chose thallium as a poison to be sprinkled in fidel_castro 's shoes a plot that was never carried out . when ingested , thallium is a slow acting poison that can cause excruciating abdominal pain , breathing difficulties , damage to the nervous system and extensive hair_loss . dr . stern said the two women had been administered prussian blue , an antidote commonly used to counteract thallium 's effect , and had undergone dialysis to help rid their systems of lingering toxins . he said that the women had been cleared to travel from moscow and that they hoped to return to the united_states by the end of the week and receive further treatment there . there is no indication that either woman would have been of interest to russian intelligence services , and no clear criminal motive for the poisoning . ''my personal opinion , '' dr . stern said , ''is that it could be some mistake . i cannot imagine that anyone in their right mind would want to hurt this person . she is very loved and very respected by her patients , her colleagues and her friends . '' the authorities in moscow said they were trying to determine whom the women had seen since they arrived . the police are retracing the routes of the women in moscow to try to detect traces of thallium in any places they visited , according to the official interfax news_agency . correction march 8 , 2007 , thursday because of an editing error , an article yesterday about an american doctor and her daughter who were severely sickened by poisoning while vacationing in moscow referred incorrectly to interfax , the news_agency that reported the development . it is privately_owned , not an ''official'' enterprise controlled by the government .

has a location of russia

the remnants of an unmanned russian space probe that failed to break out of earth 's orbit re entered the atmosphere above the southern pacific_ocean west of south_america tonight and apparently crashed into the sea , american officials said . the failure , which apparently occurred when a booster_rocket did not ignite , dealt a devastating blow to russia 's shrunken and badly underfinanced space_program . white_house aides traveling with president_clinton here on his way to a state_visit in australia orginally feared that debris from the mars bound probe would land someplace in east central australia . the probe carried a small amount of radioactive plutonium in energy packs powering two vehicles intended to land on mars . but officials said the plutonium , about 200 grams of pellets the size of pencil erasers held in heatproof metal containers the size of 35 millimeter film canisters , posed no threat if it fell away from populated_areas . the battery packs were among the few parts of the seven ton probe expected to survive re entry . tonight , the russian network ntv soberly called the failure a ''black day'' for russian space research and reported that technicians at ground control wept when they learned about the loss . ''it 's a horrible blow , '' said aleksei a . leonov , who in 1965 was the first soviet astronaut to walk in space . ''so much money was spent in vain , when we have such a terrible lack of funding for science . '' a statement from the united states space command in colorado_springs , colo . , said that the probe was believed to have re entered the atmosphere in ''a broad ocean area west of chile'' shortly after 8 30 p.m . eastern time and that if any debris survived , it might have fallen into the ocean several hundred miles away . a senior white_house official here said it appeared that the debris had broken through the atmosphere about 1 , 500 miles west of peru . the probe failed to leave earth_orbit early this morning when booster_rockets intended to push it beyond the orbit misfired . satellites from the united states space command monitored its progress . but just after 8 p.m . eastern time , robert bell , the national_security_council 's senior director for defense policy , told cable_news_network in washington that ''we have some very good , late breaking_news'' that whatever debris remained after the probe pierced the atmosphere appeared likely to land harmlessly in the pacific_ocean . russian space officials confirmed the american report tonight of the spacecraft 's fall toward earth , but would add no details . earlier today , officials of the space communication center in yevpatoriya , ukraine , said they had lost contact with the mars 96 spacecraft this morning a few hours after it lifted off from the baikonur space center in kazakstan . john e . pike , head of space policy at the federation of american scientists , a private group in washington , said the amount of plutonium involved in mars 96 was not a cause for alarm . ''on a scale of 1 to 10 , '' he said , ''this is a 1 . '' he said the dangers paled next to an incident in 1978 , when the radioactive remains of a russian satellite fell into northern_canada and forced the canadian authorities to spend millions of dollars to clean it up . the failed russian mission came 10 days after the american launching of the mars global surveyor . the russians' 64 million rocket launched spacecraft was set to reach mars next september and was carrying equipment from the united_states , the european_space_agency and more than a dozen countries . the equipment included four landing vehicles two intended for a ' 'soft'' landing on the planet 's surface and two meant to penetrate deeper into the ground . the american spacecraft launched on nov . 7 was designed only to orbit mars . russia 's latest mars project was begun eight years ago , when the nation was still the soviet_union and a superpower . several hundred million dollars were spent in the effort to explore mars . mars 96 , a combination orbiting and landing mission that was delayed by financing problems for more than two years , was an effort to keep pace with the united_states . the dire_straits of russian scientific research were shockingly highlighted last month when the head of one of the nation 's top nuclear research centers shot himself . vladimir nechai left a note saying he committed_suicide to protest unpaid wages and underfinanced programs at the top secret chelyabinsk 70 nuclear complex in the urals . ''what is notable is not that it failed , but that the launch happened at all , '' mr . pike said . ''six months ago , mars 96 was all but given up for dead . those people in the russian program did heroic work to get to launch , period . '' on dec . 2 , nasa is scheduled to launch another probe mars pathfinder on a voyage aimed at landing instruments and a small roving vehicle on the planet in july . nasa officials said the failure of the russian mission , on which american scientists had worked alongside russians , would not directly affect the next american effort . in the 1960 's , the soviet_union financed ambitious mars exploration projects and met with several successes , though the united_states was the first to send back pictures of the planet 's surface . like their american counterparts , soviet scientists met with several major setbacks in the 1980 's . the landings of two viking spacecraft on the planet in 1976 were the last american successes at mars . the one effort after the viking flights , mars observer , ended in august 1993 when ground_controllers lost contact with the craft three days before it was to go into orbit around mars . at about the same time , two russian flights failed just as they were beginning their exploration of the planet and its two small moons .

has a location of russia

after weeks of inaction , russian officials today acknowledged the seriousness of the cholera epidemic spreading across the southern regions of the country , and have announced a campaign to combat it . more than 1 , 000 cases have been reported in dagestan , and after long debate public_health officials enacted a quarantine there this week , although they acknowledged that it would do little good . there have been reports in the russian press that the clean health certificates that people need to leave the region are for sale to anyone for 20 . in neighboring chechnya , where four people have died from the disease , a profoundly unstable political situation has made all attempts at sanitary control impossible . health officials here , concerned as much about the publicity and panic surrounding the outbreak as about the possible spread of contagion , which they insist remains small in large cities like moscow , met on thursday and issued a resolution entitled , " urgent measures for the prevention of cholera in the moscow region . " moscow health inspectors said they would begin raising the level of chlorine in the drinking_water . it is nearly impossible to buy vegetables at the kiosks and food stalls because health inspectors have been closing them down . " borders these days are transparent , " said dr . emiliya s . kovalenko , chief sanitary epidemiologic officer for the moscow region . " we ca n't stop a person in a car or on foot from entering or leaving russia . " she acknowledged the problems with issuing passes to healthy people , saying that in the end it is not an effective way to control an epidemic . since many healthy people carry the cholera bacteria , it is almost impossible to impose useful quarantines . the most effective ways to control such illnesses , however , have been largely ignored in russia . cholera , a severe form of bacterial dysentery , flourishes in regions where water is dirty and sanitation is poor . to some degree , those conditions exist in russia_today , and the infectious_diseases often associated with poverty , overcrowded conditions and poor sanitation diphtheria , tuberculosis , cholera , typhoid have risen alarmingly in russia over the last two years . the number of diphtheria cases registered in st . petersburg alone jumped from 12 to 845 between 1990 and 1992 . last year the number had more than doubled again . medical officials here fear that substandard waste water treatment and poor quality drinking_water will contribute to the spread of cholera in places like moscow , where enormous numbers of immigrants from other parts of the former soviet_union arrive every week . water pipes are old and often tainted with harmful bacteria , and money for public education to fight easily cured or prevented diseases does not exist . 'start paying attention' " we better start paying attention to this problem , " said anatoly s . tyazhlov , chief of the moscow regional administration . " this is no joke . seventeen people have already died . " " it would be great if we could make sure that not one person , not one tomato , slipped out of there , " he said , referring to the dagestan region . " but that is unrealistic and impossible . " he said there would be strict monitoring of railways and airports and urged people to refrain from buying fruit and vegetables unless they knew where they came from , an impossible task in cities like moscow . some human_rights advocates have said they fear that the government will use this crisis to try to expel some of the many undocumented refugees in the capital . the russian press has attacked the government for doing nothing about the epidemic , particularly after it was revealed that at least three people in moscow have died from the disease in the last month . " now that cholera is here , rigid measures to quarantine it and prevent the spread must be taken , " the newspaper izvestia said in a commentary . " it is strange to see how long the procedural process for agreeing on a quarantine had been going on . but when there is a fire in your house , first you rush to put it out , and only afterward do you assess the damages . "

has a location of russia

in the cozy top floor of the vysoko petrovsky monastery , where russian_orthodox monks once immersed themselves in ancient manuscripts , natasha nikolayeva and her classmates were taking their final exams in russian housing law recently . the icons that adorn the walls of the tiny lecture room comforted ms . nikolayeva , who came from ukraine to study here . ''i knew that here i would find people close to me in spirit , faith and style of life , '' said the 21 year old senior . ''the jurisprudence was secondary , but i was looking for an education that would be a mix of the spiritual with the practical . '' in soviet_times , it was common for church buildings to be confiscated by the state and turned into government offices , schools , museums or even granaries . but now , for the first time , people are studying secular subjects in a russian religious institution . ms . nikolayeva is one of the students at the russian_orthodox university of st . john the theologian , the only church run university in the country that is training young people for the professional world of the new russia rather than priests . ''we did not create this university to train people to serve the church , '' said the rector of the university and head of the monastery , ioann economtsev . ''our purpose was to bring about a synthesis between scholarship and faith , and religion and morality , because scholarship without morality at its core is dangerous . '' despite the university 's religious name and leanings , mr . economtsev said most of the applicants are seeking to enter the law and economics department and as a result the competition is steeper than in other departments . in contrast with soviet_times , law and economics have become prestigious careers as the russian media publicize the growing wealth and political influence of the country 's top bankers . based on the traditions of the academy of slavonic , greek and latin studies , a church university in pre revolutionary russia , the russian_orthodox university is a major departure from the kind of schooling the church was able to involve itself in during the soviet_era . it also reflects the church 's attempt to consolidate its hold on russian society and turn itself back into the country 's official religion . although russia 's constitution guarantees freedom of religion , president boris n . yeltsin signed a hotly_debated bill last year at the urging of the russian_orthodox_church that limits the growth of new religions in russia and gives priority to the russian_orthodox_church . the bill drew fierce criticism from international_human_rights groups and a threat from the united_states_congress to cut off aid to russia . the financing of the university is indicative of the church 's willingness to involve itself in politics . though the church oversees the university , it is primarily financed by private sponsors , the largest of which is the powerful oneksimbank . the bank 's president , vladimir_potanin , one of the most politically influential figures in the country , is a major donor to the church . his annual gift of 100 , 000 to the russian_orthodox university makes up 40 percent of the university 's budget . anna parshikova , a spokeswoman for uneximbank , said that the bank hopes to employ future graduates of the university 's law and economics departments . ''they have attracted a great number of moscow 's elite scholars to teach there , '' she said . ''there are few institutions that can compare . '' with religion experiencing a revival since the fall of communism and the collapse of the soviet_union in 1991 , the university 's religious leanings are an attraction for many students . so is the prospect for a free education , a mainstay of the soviet_union , an opportunity which is slowly diminishing as the cash_strapped government finds itself unable to finance higher_education . with departments in law , economics and ecology as well as philosophy and theology and related fields , and with a new medical department to begin next fall , the university has increased its enrollment 10 fold to 500 students since it opened in 1993 . the university offers a rigorous academic program . students in the departments of philosophy and theology , and history and philology are required to study ancient greek , latin and russian in addition to a modern language , while bible students are required to add ancient hebrew and aramaic , to their studies . yulia butskikh , 20 , who is in her third year of study in the philosophy and theology department , said the university had found an educational niche that is not available at other institutions . ''m . g.u . does not have the religious depth and religious academies do not have the scholarship , '' she said comparing the university with moscow_state_university , one of the country 's best known universities . ''this is a good combination of the two . '' the faculty includes professors from moscow_state_university , two from england who give their lectures on literature in english and nikita tolstoy , who until his death last year headed the slavonics specialty in the history and philology department . mr . tolstoy is the son of the soviet novelist aleksei tolstoy and a distant relative of leo tolstoy . unlike religious universities elsewhere , the russian_orthodox university does not require its students to attend services and there are no stringent housing rules since the school does not have dormitories for its students . nonetheless , all students are required to complete courses in the history of christianity as well as the old and new testaments . in addition , economics students also have the opportunity to take courses like ''economics in the world of the bible'' and ''the economic views of the fathers of the church . '' irina pankova , who is in her last year of study in the university 's law department , said she hoped the education she received at the university would allow her to bring about change in russia . ''i think this education allows us to look at the future with a human view , '' she said , ''not the way things are now , like in economics , where there is no humanity . '' mr . economtsev said he too hopes to see his graduates transform russia . ''my goal is to prepare the intellectual and spiritual elite of russia , '' he said . ''we are not preparing students for the russia of yesterday , and not the russia that exists today . we are preparing students for a regenerated russia , for a highly cultural , highly moral russia of great intellectual and scientific potential . ''

has a location of russia

tucked carefully into a pine forest , bathed in the sparkling siberian air and filled with enough amenities to make a country club look spartan , the pediatric tuberculosis center here seems to sit on the cutting edge of russian medicine . in a nation whose government has concluded that half of the hospitals are too dilapidated to function , the center is in the midst of a robust development program . it has a dozen buildings , a school for patients and a staff of 134 . what the 500 bed hospital does not have , in this country where president boris n . yeltsin has called health_care ''our no . 1 national_security crisis , '' are patients . last year there were never more than 20 children here at a time . this month there are 13 . that is because the tomsk hospital system is a citadel of waste . there are 88 hospitals in this city of 500 , 000 , more than in boston . twelve of them treat tb patients alone . there is a major clinical center with 21 departments and four surgical branches , and a university medical center duplicates almost exactly what is offered in the municipal center . the hospitals have enormous heating costs , fleets of cars , large , poorly trained staffs and patient services that overlap . ''if it was just one hospital burning money , then we could live with that , '' said tatyana grishina , a tuberculosis expert at the russian academy of medical sciences who has been to tomsk to study the system here . ''but it is not one hospital . and it is not just tuberculosis . it is the whole story of russian medicine . ''people talk about reform all the time in russia . but nobody wants it . reform is one of the dirtiest words in the country . '' health officials here , and throughout russia , still dole out scarce money based almost solely on the number of beds in each hospital , without regard to whether they are needed or how they are used . as a result , the pediatric center will receive nearly 1 million in regional funds this year . with that money it will subject its 13 children to a needlessly expensive , anachronistic treatment regimen that the world_health_organization has long considered worse than useless . there may be no better way to understand the immense obstacles that reforms face in the russian provinces where they are needed most than to look at how a place like tomsk deals with health_care . compared with other cities in russia it is neither backward nor unique . one of siberia 's oldest cities , filled with stately wooden houses that have withstood a century of snow , tomsk used to live on an allowance dispensed from moscow . all that has changed . industry has atrophied . the nearly free transportation system , essential in such a remote place , has virtually disappeared . without it , half of the region has lost its access to decent medical treatment . the money from moscow may be gone , but the network designed by the soviet_government grand , cumbersome , repetitive and blind to the perverse and often baffling economics of medicine lives on . ''this is more than a medical system , '' said sergei banin , tomsk 's no . 2 health official . ''it is a social system . we are feeding the poor . we are providing thousands of jobs . we want an evolution here , not a revolution . '' but there has been nothing gradual about the decline in the health of the russian people . tomsk , like the rest of russia , reels under a remarkable surge in infectious and parasitic diseases , and constant growth in cases of deadly heart_disease , alcohol poisoning and cancer . last year more people in russia died from tuberculosis , which is entirely curable , than got the disease in the united_states . the government now predicts that the russian population will shrink by at least one million people each year for at least a decade . that has happened only a few times in history and until now always in countries engulfed by war , plague or famine . many people say national officials simply need to spend more on their citizens' health . money would help , of course . last year russia spent only about 75 a person on health care the united_states spent nearly 4 , 000 . but increasingly , experts cite another statistic that may be more telling russia has 130 hospital beds for every 10 , 000 people , a figure matched in no major country on earth . the united_states has fewer than 40 beds per 10 , 000 people . ''you could not invent a more ridiculous health_care system than the one we now have , '' said igor linok , the chief administrator of the tomsk regional health_insurance fund . dr . linok is a physician and an economist . it is his job to try to find a rational way to spread money across the tomsk region , which has one million people in an area about the size of england . ''everyone always says there is not enough money , '' he said . ''we are poor , of course . but i do n't even agree that there is not enough money . look at the waste in this place . '' most countries no longer have tb hospitals . tomsk has 12 . with a rate of 80 cases per 100 , 000 residents here , the incidence has more than doubled in a decade . but hospitals do not help . the world_health_organization has long argued that tuberculosis can be treated better and less expensively with drugs at home . merlin , the british relief agency , has created a pilot program to supply drugs and the expertise to use them properly . it has had some success , but there has been a fight every step of the way . ''there are cultural expectations here that are almost impossible to overcome , '' said gini gleissberg , the merlin coordinator in tomsk . ''patients expect this long period of hospitalization . lots of times a few months in a hospital beats being at home without work or money . '' three quarters of the 4 million spent on tuberculosis treatment and testing here is wasted , merlin says . health department officials do not disagree . in 1996 a total of 532 children were discharged from various tb hospitals in tomsk after average stays of a little more than three months . tuberculosis had been diagnosed in only 23 . the rest were there because their parents had the disease , or because they were suspected of being infected . the new york public_health research institute , with money from the financier and philanthropist george_soros , has offered to help tomsk shift its health priorities . the soros plan , as it is called here , is simple . ''let 's spend money on what works , '' dr . alex goldfarb , who has been the plan 's chief salesman , said in a recent interview . ''and let 's help people make that transition to a new way of life . but if there is no switch , there should be no funds . to get the money , people here need to get rid of those hospital beds . '' that kind of talk drives many leaders in russian medicine already sick of being told how to do their jobs by outsiders to open revolt . ''i thought humanitarian_aid came without strings attached , '' said aleksei primyak , who runs the largest national tuberculosis center in moscow and is seen as the official voice of the conservative medical establishment . ''who are these people to tell us how to treat our citizens ? '' but the desperate competition for money has turned the medical system into a major political issue . and the problems are by no means limited to tb . ''the hospital system , '' said governor viktor kress , a reformer who is nonetheless wary of moving too fast , ''is one of the greatest lobbies left in the land . '' that is clear in tomsk . the city has two large heart centers that can serve 1 , 000 patients each . they have similar equipment . the one operated by the national government has better staff , but it is open to patients only five days a week . ''do n't have a heart_attack on the weekend , '' said vladimir mashukov , the chief doctor at the tomsk institute of cardiology , the national center . he says his budget ''has been irregular and chaotic . '' ''we are hostages to the past , '' he said . there are also four cancer centers here . and tomsk , a university town with a branch of the russian academy of medical sciences , is considered progressive by most outsiders . the children 's sanitarium is exhibit a in any attempt to explain why health_care in the provinces seems stuck in another era . ''for the money we are spending on that place we could move all those children and their families to israel and let them live by the dead sea , '' said dr . linok , the health economist . the center is the perfect symbol for the failings of hospitals from one end of the country to the other . there are too many people on staff , but no alternative jobs for them . there are not enough patients , because patients or in this case , their parents do not want to report their illnesses for fear they will be locked in a sanitarium for months . the hospital duplicates services offered less than two miles away at the city 's central tb clinic . of course , that is not the way they see it at the sanitarium . ''i am not a diplomat , '' said anatoly m . shatokhin , the affable chief doctor at the pediatric center . ''i am a doctor . and i have to tell you that your system may work best for you , but ours works best for us . children need to be nurtured . they need a setting in which to recover . '' that means in a hospital , he says . keeping people in a hospital for routine tuberculosis treatment , still normal here , is rare in the west . the cost of such treatment , an average here of 1 , 134 per cure , is more than five times the cost of using drugs on outpatients , according to the w.h.o . ''if you look at the numbers , the logic is obvious , '' said olga sharaburova , the chief tuberculosis doctor for the region . ''but logic has never been used here yet . so you can understand why people wonder about it know . ''

has a location of russia

in an effort to circumvent united_states export controls , russia 's nuclear_weapons establishment says it has obtained a powerful i.b.m . supercomputer through a european middleman . russian nuclear officials , who disclosed the purchase , said they planned to use the computer to simulate nuclear tests . ''if we see something we can buy on the european market , we buy it , '' vladislav petrov , the head of the public affairs department for russia 's ministry of atomic_energy affairs , said in an interview . mr . petrov said the computer had been purchased for 7 million . the purchase of the supercomputer , an i.b.m . rs 6000 sp , underscores the vein of distrust that still colors relations between the united_states and newly democratic russia . even as washington talks of partnership between nato and russia and supports russia 's efforts at economic_reform , the two sides are still at odds over moscow 's access to sophisticated american technology . russian officials insist that supercomputers are needed to maintain the reliability of their nuclear stockpile now that moscow has agreed to a ban on nuclear tests . ''computer modeling is very important to us , '' viktor n . mikhailov , the minister of atomic_energy affairs , said recently . but american officials say supercomputers could help russia design new weapons . the united_states does not want to help russia insure the effectiveness of its nuclear_arsenal . ''we have made a policy decision not to assist the russians in their stockpile stewardship program , '' a senior american official said . ''even though relations with the russians are good , we are potentially a target for their nuclear forces if relations change . '' the clinton_administration is also concerned about the political ramifications in congress of aiding the russian military establishment . under united_states law , american computer manufacturers are required to consult with the commerce_department before selling computers to russia that are capable of performing between two billion and seven billion calculations a second . the sale of faster computers generally requires a license . the administration turned down applications last year from i.b.m . and hewlett_packard to sell supercomputers to russia . the russians said the computers would be used for research on pollution and nuclear safety , but suspicions were aroused because they were to be shipped to nuclear_weapons design centers . recently , the head of silicon_graphics , a california based company , acknowledged that his company had made a mistake by selling two small supercomputer systems to russia . the united_states_attorney in san_jose has opened an investigation into that sale . the i.b.m . supercomputer is even more powerful and can perform 10 billion calculations a second , russian officials say . they say it is 10 times more effective than the computers now on hand . russian officials decline to say precisely which middleman sold the i.b.m . supercomputer . but they have not hesitated to publicize the acquisition , perhaps calculating that this may undermine the rationale for continued american export controls . russian nuclear officials say they want to purchase even more powerful supercomputers to maintain russia 's status as a nuclear superpower , with washington 's blessing . stressing the need for nuclear research , mr . mikhailov touted russia 's nuclear_arsenal as a means of offsetting its weakness in conventional weapons . ''the only protection throughout this period will be nuclear_weapons , '' he said .

has a location of russia

in a vivid demonstration of the problems afflicting this country 's once proud space_program , russia has been without photo reconnaissance satellites for nearly two months , russian and western scientists say . it is the first time since the early 1960 's that the russian military has been without the satellite pictures modern armies deem essential for detecting threats and conducting combat for more than a brief period . russia 's last operable photo satellite burned up on re entry to the atmosphere on sept . 28 , and since then , russian and western experts say , the russian military has lacked up to date imagery of such potential flashpoints as afghanistan and the russia china border . ''this is the consequence of continued underfinancing of the space_program , particularly in the military sector , '' said maxim tarasenko , a space analyst at moscow 's institute for physics and technology . russia 's military and intelligence services are not completely without surveillance , the experts said , since other types of satellites that could detect ballistic_missile attacks and track electronic emissions from military warships are still working . ''in the heyday of the cold_war , it would have been unthinkable for them to go for an extended period without a recon bird up , '' said lieut . gen . james r . clapper jr . , former head of the defense_intelligence_agency . ''it shows how much the russians have turned inwards . '' a senior american official who requested_anonymity said the nearly two months without satellite pictures also ' 'shows the incredible depths to which the soviet_military has fallen . '' this official said russian military officers may feel less need for satellite photos than their american counterparts , in part because the threats russia faces are regional rather than global . ''they really do n't care when brazil puts its navy out to sea , '' he said . ''we do . '' russia , the united_states and france are the only countries with significant capabilities for photographing the earth from outer_space . china 's program for satellite reconnaissance is in its infancy . although it never lost all of its photo satellites , the american reconnaissance program was stretched thin by the 32 month grounding that followed the 1986 explosion of the space shuttle challenger . during the cold_war , the pentagon nervously watched as the kremlin extended its reach into space . the soviet_union deployed spy_satellites to eavesdrop on communications and to intercept electronic emissions from the armada that accompanies american aircraft_carriers . it launched satellites that provide advance warning of ballistic_missile attacks and transmit messages to military units . it also managed an ambitious program of photo reconnaissance satellites . between 1962 and 1994 , moscow launched more than 800 photo reconnaissance satellites into orbit , making up for their lack of durability with quantity . over time , the soviet satellites became more sophisticated and longer lived . with the end of the cold_war and the collapse of the soviet_union , the number of russian photo satellites orbiting the earth sharply declined . in 1993 and 1994 , the russians launched only seven photo reconnaissance satellites , according to nicholas l . johnson , an expert on orbital debris at the national_aeronautics_and_space_administration . russia generally had two or more photo reconnaissance satellites in space during that time , but this year moscow ran into problems . on june 11 , kosmos 2331 , one of two russian photo reconnaissance satellites in space , reached the end of its operational life and fell out of orbit . nine days later , the russians tried to launch a replacement satellite into orbit . but the mission failed within seconds when the rocket crashed a few miles from the launch site . that left the russians with a single photo satellite , kosmos 2320 . it fell out of orbit on sept . 28 , and the russians have yet to launch a replacement . public concern arose here only last week when the newspaper izvestia reported that the russian military was been left without a single photo reconnaissance satellite . along with this week 's dramatic failure of russia 's 300 million mars mission , the photo reconnaissance gap is embarrassing for a nation that sent the first man into space . the setbacks in russia 's space programs have experienced other embarrassing signs of financial strain . because of budget cutbacks , moscow had to turn to the americans for help in tracking the errant mars spacecraft . russia has also postponed bringing astronauts from its mir_space_station back to earth because of delays in building the necessary rockets . to raise badly needed cash , the russians allowed pepsi_cola to use the mir_space_station as a prop in the company 's campaign to advertise its new blue soda cans .

has a location of russia

dr . louis g . lange , a cardiologist and the chief executive of a small biotechnology company , has a new drug that , if approved , will be the first new treatment for angina in a quarter century . like many drug companies , dr . lange 's , cv therapeutics of palo_alto , calif . , tested its new product overseas , where studies go faster because it is easy to find patients who are eager to participate . but the company 's testing is nearing its end , and dr . lange is faced with an ethical quandary is his company obliged to make the drug available to the patients in poor countries like russia who took part in the studies ? as companies increasingly test new drugs in other countries , they are struggling to decide what , if anything , they owe the patients who served as test subjects . some companies have chosen not to sell their drugs in the countries where they were tested others have marketed their drugs there , but few patients in those countries can afford them . ''this is something that the biotech industry , as it develops more and more drugs , will have to come to grips with , '' said carl b . feldbaum , president of the biotechnology industry organization . ''it 's not that we are lacking compassion , but the economics are tough . '' the issue is especially difficult when it comes to drugs , like dr . lange 's , that do not save lives but can vastly improve the quality of life . nobody knows for sure how many patients in other countries have had to forgo drugs that improved their lives when clinical_trials ended , and companies do not give out patients' names , to protect their privacy . but the issue is very much on the minds of company researchers and executives . ethicists say that they , too , are troubled but that their field has reached no consensus on what companies should do . ''do we have an obligation to everyone in the trial or to everyone in the community , the province , the nation , the region of the world ? '' asked dr . ruth faden , the director of the phoebe r . berman bioethics institute at johns_hopkins_university . ''we have n't really figured this out . '' yet , dr . faden said , ' 'many physician investigators feel uncomfortable with the idea of using patients in studies and then not being able to continue to help them when the trial ends . '' ''we seem to hit a wall of moral unease , '' she said . ''in the end , i 'm not sure exactly where we ought to end up . '' companies must make business decisions about where to market their drugs , figuring out whether they can earn enough money to justify applying for approval , setting up business offices and hiring a sales force . if they decide not to market a drug in a given country , they are unlikely to provide it to patients there free of charge . to provide a drug for what medical professionals call compassionate use , companies must set up a distribution system , train doctors to administer the drugs , monitor patients for adverse_effects and track the results . whether to undertake a compassionate use program for drugs that improve the quality of life but do not prolong it ranolazine , the drug cv therapeutics has developed , is one example poses ''a delicate question , '' said tony plohoros , a spokesman for merck , a company that has systems to distribute lifesaving drugs in poor countries where there is a need . the issue is especially difficult for small companies , like dr . lange 's , that as yet have no products on the market . dr . lange says he is torn . cv therapeutics , he noted , is a business , not a charity . it cannot afford to set up a marketing system in countries where few can buy the drug , or a distribution system to give its drugs away . ''we 're not merck , '' he said . ''but we are concerned . '' there is no question that the patients who participated in the company 's studies are needy . chronic angina has made their lives miserable . terrifying , crushing chest_pains can come on without warning and often persist despite bypass_surgery , angioplasty and medications . ranolazine can make a difference . it changes the heart 's metabolism , allowing it to operate more efficiently . the company 's studies found that it can cut the frequency of angina attacks nearly in half . the food and drug administration has told cv therapeutics that the drug is ''approvable , '' if it can provide a bit more data . on jan . 21 , the journal of the american_medical_association published the company 's study along with a laudatory editorial , reporting that ranolazine helped patients whose angina was crippling despite standard therapies . for now , most patients in russia and the other countries can receive ranolazine as part of large safety studies that follow the trials on the drug 's effectiveness . but those studies will end , and dr . lange says he does not relish taking the drug away from people being helped by it . in the united_states , patients who participate in clinical_trials often continue to receive the drug being tested until it is approved . after that , they can buy it or , if they cannot afford it , apply to special programs that most companies offer to help people who could not otherwise get drugs they need . but with the exception of aids drugs , which companies provide free or at low cost to patients in poor countries , there is no industry consensus about what to do internationally , especially when drugs are not lifesaving . and even when companies market their drugs in poor countries , they tend not to set up a system to give the drugs away to study subjects after a clinical_trial ends . the issue has grown more pressing as more companies conduct international studies to get enough patients . in recent years , they have increasingly turned to countries in eastern and central_europe . cv therapeutics , for example , tested its drug in two large studies involving 1 , 014 patients , including about 365 from north_america and western_europe and close to 600 from russia and eastern_europe . dr . eugene braunwald of harvard_medical_school , who is chairman of a not for profit academic group that runs clinical_trials in cardiology , said fewer and fewer american patients participated . ''we are enrolling on average half as many patients in the u.s . now as compared to five years ago , ''dr . braunwald said . one reason , he said , is that doctors do not want to take the time to enroll patients and to comply with the detailed testing and reporting a study requires . business in eastern and central_europe is expanding rapidly , with american companies that conduct clinical_trials opening offices there and local entrepreneurs setting up their own businesses . covance , a large american company that conducts trials for drug companies under contract , opened offices in russia and poland a few years ago and in hungary last year . ''the standards of medicine are high'' in those countries , said dr . alan wood , covance 's general_manager for global clinical development services , and it is easy to recruit patients . richard leach , the american business manager of russian clinical_trials , a six person company in st . petersburg , russia , explained the appeal of doing studies there . the doctors are well trained but earn as little as a few hundred dollars a month , mr . leach said , and they are eager for the money they can get as clinical_trial investigators . doctors even want to be study monitors , traveling to medical offices to be sure protocols are followed . that job , done mostly by nurses in the united_states , pays much more than russian doctors earn for treating patients . another incentive is the medical equipment supplied by drug companies . cv therapeutics , for example , gave its russian doctors treadmills for exercise testing , and sent technicians to their offices to teach them how to do the test . ''that was a perk for them , '' dr . lange said . patients in other countries are also more eager to take part in clinical_trials . in the united_states , companies have to advertise heavily to find patients . in russia , mr . leach said , word of mouth usually suffices . because the government does not pay for prescription_drugs and few people can afford to buy them , the patients see clinical_trials as their best chance for medications . ''eastern_european and russian people tend to be very compliant , '' mr . leach said . ''because they are getting medical treatment they could n't afford and getting western_medicine , they will follow the trial and they will do whatever is asked . if they have to keep a diary , they do it . if they have to make office visits , they do it . '' companies like covance and russian clinical_trials say it is not their business to ask what happens when the studies end . ''what our clients choose to do is not our affair , '' dr . wood of covance said . ethicists acknowledge that companies are businesses and accountable to investors . drug companies , said dr . lawrence o . gostin , the director of the center for law and the public 's health at georgetown and johns_hopkins universities , should not be seen as ''the deep pocket that helps everyone . '' but on the other hand , dr . gostin said , there is something troubling about ''parachute research , '' in which a company drops into a country , conducts its research and then leaves . ''it raises the question of what ethical obligation , if any , there might be to give back and make sure there is access to the drug after the trials are over , '' dr . gostin said . the participants in a study take a risk to help a company determine if its drug is safe and effective , he said , and ''it seems to me that there is an ethical obligation to give back . '' as for dr . lange , he said that the patients enrolled in his company 's trials in eastern and central_europe might eventually have to give up their ranolazine . but he comforts himself , he said , by remembering that for now , they are still getting the drug as part of the company 's safety studies . ''i have n't had to bite the bullet yet , '' he said .

has a location of russia

a scientific team says it has solved the mystery of what exploded 84 years ago over siberia with a force of 1 , 000 hiroshima sized nuclear_weapons , flattening hundreds of square miles of forest it was a stony asteroid 100 or so feet in diameter , they say . for decades experts have debated the cause of the explosion over tunguska on june 30 , 1908 . evidence has always been sparse . the object exploded about five miles in the air , and no part of it has been found . the shock_wave and intense radiant energy flattened trees over an area more than half the size of new york city , and the pressure wave was recorded around the globe . what might have been the cause most often proposed has been a comet plunging into the atmosphere at supersonic speeds . the icy core of a comet was considered so fragile that it would explode high in the atmosphere , leaving no fragments solid enough to dig a crater . in 1978 l . kresak , a czechoslovak scientist , also noted that the explosion coincided with the annual meteor shower that occurs as the earth passes through the debris of comet encke . the denser celestial objects known as asteroids were also proposed but often dismissed , because an asteroid big enough to produce the blast was envisioned as at least partly surviving and hitting the ground . now scientists from the national_aeronautics_and_space_administration and the university of wisconsin , writing in today 's issue of the journal nature , have given the asteroid thesis new weight and rigor . in a mathematical simulation of the tunguska explosion , the researchers show that cometary nuclei and carbonaceous asteroids explode far too high to account for the blast , and that iron rich asteroids tend to explode low and leave craters . the only logical source , they say , is a stony asteroid , the most common type . " this event represents a typical fate for stony asteroids , " wrote dr . christopher f . chyba of the goddard space flight center in greenbelt , md . , dr . paul j . thomas of the university of wisconsin at eau clair and dr . kevin j . zahnle of ames research center in california . in the analysis , the team calculated the effects of aerodynamics on the mass that exploded , showing that these forces could easily smash it into fragments that experienced a sharp rise in atmospheric drag and heating . boom ! thus , the scientists concluded , a 100 foot stony asteroid must have exploded at a height of about five miles in a " catastrophic fragmentation . " a smaller stony asteroid would have exploded much higher , the team said , and a larger one would have hit the earth . astronomers believe there are more than a million asteroids with diameters greater than 100 feet whose orbits take them across the path of the earth , and that tunguska type collisions occur every 300 years or so . dr . henry j . melosh of the lunar and planetary laboratory of the university of arizona , commenting in nature , said the asteroid team had " wrapped up " the most believable explanation . among the remaining mysteries , dr . melosh wrote , is why the night skies of in western_europe were strangely bright after the blast . the new findings , he noted , have revived a suggestion that the bright nights were due to sunlight reflected from water ice clouds created when the tunguska fireball drove large quantities of wet air into the normally dry upper atmosphere .

has a location of russia

the young russian psychoanalyst was confused . his patient , an alluring , intelligent but deeply unhappy young woman , seemed affronted when he interpreted her flood of sexual reminiscences as her fantasy of their future relationship . ''i think maybe i gave an interpretation too early , but i could n't help it , '' he explained sheepishly to a group of fledgling russian psychoanalysts around a conference table in moscow . ''she got angry and was unwilling to admit that there is any sexual component to our work . '' ten years ago , a seminar about stock freudian concepts like resistance and transference was unthinkable in russia . freud 's writings were banned as bourgeois ideology and read only furtively in samizdat , or bootleg , form . the few self taught psychoanalysts who saw patients did so in fear and secrecy . banned by the soviet authorities for three generations , all kinds of western methods of psychotherapy are flourishing in russia_today , competing with the more dubious methods of folk medicine , witchcraft and psychic healing . of all the different methods and schools from gestalt to group therapy that have taken root since communism collapsed , freudian psychoanalysis is by far the most challenging and the most controversial . for the rediscovery of freud and psychoanalytic therapy puts russia squarely on a collision course with trends in the west . in a kind of cultural role reversal , russian therapists are shaking free of 70 years of drug based soviet psychiatry to explore the id and the ego just as many of their western counterparts spurred by advances in biochemistry and the rise of managed_care are turning away from such long term talk therapies in favor of drugs like prozac . the widespread hopes that russia 's freudians have for the future of psychoanalysis in some ways mirror the great expectations of their american and european counterparts 30 years ago . ''for 70 years the russian people were robbed of self knowledge , '' said sergei g . agrachev , 44 , president of the new moscow psychoanalytic society . ''psychoanalysis is one weapon with which we can restore some order to our society . '' in july , president boris n . yeltsin signed a decree officially recognizing psychoanalysis as a legitimate psychiatric treatment . psychoanalysis is now part of the curriculum for psychology students . it is even taught at the military university of the ministry of defense of the russian_federation , formerly known as the lenin military political academy . the new health minister , tatyana b . dmitriyeva , is a psychiatrist specializing in personality disorders who until recently was director of the serbsky institute , notorious in the 1970 's as a psychiatric_hospital where dissidents were incarcerated . in an interview , mrs . dmitriyeva was skeptical about some colleagues' embrace of psychoanalysis , referring to it as a fad that had already faded in the west . despite her misgivings , she arranged for two former colleagues at the serbsky institute to study psychoanalysis in france . ''since in our country it was prohibited , there is a natural fascination with psychoanalysis , especially among the young , '' she explained with a shrug . ''the country has to go through it before it develops an immunity and this method finds its proper place . '' with a wintry smile , she added , ''and not a prominent one . '' so far , no russian psychoanalyst has completed the rigorous training required by the london based international psychoanalytical association . russian psychoanalysts like mr . agrachev are mostly self taught and are not certified by western institutes . while some are medical doctors , most are psychologists . at least eight russian would be analysts are in the united_states undergoing the formal training that will allow them someday to train and supervise their colleagues back home . mikhail romashkevich , the head of one leading freudian society , called the russian psychoanalytic association , is undergoing what he calls ' 'shuttle analysis'' in his quest for certification . since no russian is recognized abroad as a training analyst , he commutes to prague once a month to undergo analysis . he and many others who are practicing psycho analysts in russia submit their cases to supervisors in the west by fax and e mail . mr . agrachev , who was trained as an electrical_engineer , was one of the first russians to go underground to undergo analysis , which he began in secrecy in 1977 and kept up for nine years with a self taught mentor . he now sees 20 patients , 2 of whom are in deep analysis , which entails four sessions a week while lying on a couch . the average cost of psychoanalysis in russia is about 20 an hour . mr . agrachev 's fees , set according to his patients' ability to pay , range from 8 an hour to 65 . the deprivations of russian life make it difficult for analysts here to live up to the exacting standards of western psychoanalysis . by day , mr . agrachev 's office in his small apartment is a pleasant , rather impersonal den . but at night , in violation of psychoanalytic taboo , it reverts to his bedroom , the couch turning into a fold out bed . the burgeoning of freudian thought in russia is something of a boon to the western psychoanalytic movement . presiding at the seminar in moscow , earle baughman , a visiting american training analyst from the baltimore washington institute for psychoanalysis , was listening , through an interpreter , to the young russian therapist discussing his reluctant patient . ''she 's a hysteric , all right , '' he said with a chuckle . ''she broadcasts sexuality all over the place , but when the man says , 'o . k. , let 's talk about sex , ' she says no . '' smiling knowingly , he compared the russian patient to one of freud 's most famous case studies ''this is a lot like dora . '' to westerners , the russian freudian movement is sometimes reminiscent of psychoanalysis in its heyday . ''psychoanalysis here does n't have the revolutionary spirit it once had , '' said gary goldsmith , a boston based member of the american psychoanalytic association who travels to supervise russian psychoanalytic trainees in moscow and st . petersburg . ''part of the fun in russia is recapturing that spirit there and being in at the beginning of a revival of analysis . ''but there is a feeling in russia that the soviet regime turned them into a neurotic society . i 've noticed there is an idealization in russia still , a feeling that psychoanalysis is a panacea . our job is to help them avoid the mistakes we 've made over the past 60 years . '' psychoanalysis had a rich history among the russian intelligentsia before and immediately after the revolution of 1917 . the first translation of freud 's writings was into russian . in vienna , some of freud 's earliest disciples and even some patients , including the ''wolf man , '' were russian . the bolsheviks at first embraced psychoanalysis as an antidote to bourgeois thinking . theirs was the first government to recognize psychoanalysis officially as a science and awarded its practitioners state funds . in 1926 the soviet_government allowed the creation of the first psychoanalytic kindergarten for neurotic children , in moscow . stalin 's son was reportedly a pupil . ''the russian psychoanalysts were seeking a way to make marx and freud compatible , '' said martin miller , a historian at duke_university who is writing a book about the psychoanalytic movement in russia . ''they wanted to create a collective psychology . '' mr . miller noted that freud , who wrote with some asperity about the communist_state in works like ''civilization and its discontents , '' was keenly interested in the russian psychoanalytic movement after the revolution and corresponded with some of the leading soviet psychoanalysts . in 1930 , stalin put an abrupt end to the experiment with psychoanalysis , and freud was banned from bookstores and library shelves . until the mid 1980 's , university scholars studied freud not in the original , but through the filter of marxist critique . though there were some marxist oriented psychoanalytic centers around the soviet_union the largest congress of psychoanalysts took place in tbilisi , georgia , in 1959 mostly , the movement died or went underground . when western psychoanalysts began visiting russia in 1991 , they discovered a freudian school steeped in the literature of the 1920 's and 1930 's and untainted by freud 's successors and critics . ''we had n't read adler or horney or fromm , '' mr . agrachev said . ''we were like the mammoths that are discovered intact and frozen in the permafrost . '' that has changed . therapists are no longer treating patients in doorways and alleys along the arbat pedestrian mall . there are jungians and followers of lacan in russia . even freudian circles are suffering the kind of rifts and rivalries that characterize western psychoanalysis . there is a thriving psychoanalytic institute in st . petersburg and at least three in moscow , two of which are called the ''russian psychoanalytic association . '' dr . aron i . belkin , founder of one of those two rival schools , is famous in russia for having published a newspaper article extolling psychoanalysis in 1988 , when freud was still officially taboo . trained as an endocrinologist , he has spawned his own method , combining conventional psychoanalysis with what he described as psycho neural endocrinology . though he has three patients currently in analysis , dr . belkin said he was most interested in using psychoanalysis to explore the russian soul . he is writing a monograph examining khrushchev 's unconscious motivation in taking crimea from russia and giving it to ukraine in 1954 . dr . belkin said he frowned on the new generation 's desire to emulate western models . ''we cannot copy the west , '' he said . ''we are different . we need to develop a purely russian psychoanalysis to understand ourselves . ''

has a location of russia

russia is proposing changing the planned international_space_station by incorporating all or part of the russians' existing mir orbiting_outpost into the design . the move is causing concern among other nations that are partners in the project , including the united_states , which oppose any change that might add to the program 's costs or delay its completion . officials of the national_aeronautics_and_space_administration say that they do not know exactly what changes in the international station the russians want . they are to get details in the coming week , when a delegation of russian space agency and industry officials arrives in houston to outline the proposal . the delegation , headed by boris ostroumov , deputy general director of the russian agency , is to meet on friday at nasa 's johnson_space_center in houston with officials of the space_station program . engineers at johnson have been informally assessing the feasibility of a number of options that would incorporate mir components into the international station , known as alpha , said people within and outside of nasa who are familiar with the situation . yuri koptev , head of the russian space agency , raised the issue of using mir as part of alpha last month when wilbur trafton , nasa 's space_station director , and other american officials were in russia during a joint mission involving an american shuttle 's docking with mir . mr . trafton told mr . koptev then that the united_states would not consider redesigning the space_station . this week ray castillo , a nasa spokesman , reiterated the agency 's position that the station would not be redesigned . but he said nasa would evaluate proposals that might cut project costs or speed completion of the station . " if a proposal increases cost , delays the schedule or compromises safety , we will not agree to it , " mr . castillo said . russia is building alpha 's propulsion module the unit that will steer and stabilize the entire station and several other crucial components the united_states , the european_space_agency , canada and japan are contributing science laboratories , living quarters , solar_power units and other segments . some of the international partners , who were wary when russia joined the effort as a full partner in 1993 and are under pressure to hold down their costs in the undertaking , are concerned that changes proposed by the russians could jeopardize the project , experts said . experts on moscow 's space_program said russia , which continues to face severe economic problems , wanted to incorporate mir into the alpha project because using some existing equipment would cut its costs . one option being discussed , they said , is substituting two of mir 's newest scientific modules , called spektr and priroda , for new research components that russia is supposed to build for alpha . mir , which is almost 10 years old , is believed by many to be nearing the end of its useful life . but spektr , which is equipped for biomedical and atmospheric research , is only a year old . and priroda , designed to study the earth 's resources and the oceans , will not be attached to mir until next year . the first components of alpha , which are in advanced stages of construction , are scheduled to be launched into space in late 1997 . the entire outpost , which will serve as a permanent orbital base for six astronauts , is to be completed by 2002 . any changes that disrupt this timetable or result in higher costs may put the 35 billion project into deep trouble politically and endanger its completion , space experts said . nasa 's administrator , daniel s . goldin , and other officials have maintained for almost two years that the design of alpha is final . it is a scaled down version of a larger proposed station , freedom , that went through several costly redesigns over a decade , resulting in an expense of billions of dollars with little to show for it . given assurances that the project now can be brought in on time and without cost_overruns , congress has supported it as a cornerstone of international cooperation and a source of jobs for the aerospace industry . a space expert on the staff of a house committee that oversees nasa , who spoke on the condition that he not be otherwise identified , said lawmakers were waiting to see what russia proposed . " we 're going to be looking at this very hard , " he said . " if they propose something that compromises the cost or schedule , or undermines u.s . leadership of the project , it 's going to meet a lot of resistance on capitol_hill . "

has a location of russia

thirteen months ago , a young man from this city 's rough and tumble north side appeared at the government railroad workers' hospital complaining of a head wound suffered in a family fight . a blood work up soon showed that it was the least of his problems he was also infected with h.i.v. , the virus that causes aids . that was unusual . in the entire irkutsk region , a siberian expanse big enough to accommodate france and england in one gulp , health officials had recorded fewer than 200 h.i.v . infections since record keeping began in 1991 . but when a second north side man checked into another hospital for an operation a few days later , only to test positive for h.i.v. , the officials decided to investigate . what they found is still resounding through irkutsk , a run down river town of 650 , 000 just north of mongolia . the two men , it turned out , both attended vocational_school 44 , a training institute for river transport workers . further tests uncovered six more h.i.v . cases among their classmates . all eight shared another deadly trait they were addicted to heroin , which first appeared in the city 's drug subculture only six or seven months earlier . today a region that hardly heard of aids a year ago has recorded 5 , 000 new cases of h.i.v . infection and registered more than 8 , 500 drug addicts . those are the official statistics the true figures could be as much as 10 times as great , officials say . perhaps nowhere else in russia have h.i.v . infections grown so explosively . heroin has proven the deadly catalyst in this epidemic . it has fueled a sharp rise in drug use and encouraged the needle_sharing that helps to spread aids . ''it 's a fire there , '' arkadiusz majszyk , the united_nations aids representative in russia , said this week . ''and nobody is paying attention . '' if it is a fire , then the rest of russia is surely smoldering . the number of h.i.v . infected russians is small so far 33 , 000 by official estimates , perhaps 300 , 000 by international ones but the potential for growth is huge . the united_nations , which joined russian officials on friday to announce a new effort to halt the epidemic , says the virus 's spread is accelerating and could move beyond drug users without preventive measures . already 40 per cent of russian prostitutes , who often use drugs , are h.i.v . positive . the growing prevalence of venereal diseases like gonorrhea make sexual transmission of the virus even easier . and with the poverty and general breakdowns of law and mores that followed the soviet_union 's collapse , prostitution and drug use are thriving . ''the second wave of infection , which will come very soon , is heterosexual transmission , '' mr . majszyk said in an earlier interview . ''it will go for the next two or three years , because the main measures which should be taken are connected with prevention . and to work , prevention needs time . '' time is in short supply in irkutsk . heroin and h.i.v . have already penetrated virtually every corner of this vast region , a farrago of pristine forest and permafrost , dying company towns and smoky industrial cities . heroin has surfaced in bodaibo , a mountain ringed gold_mining outpost reachable only by small plane , and in ust kut , a northern river port whose shipping business has all but dried up . there is h.i.v . in mama , a moribund mica mining village some 400 miles north of here , and in bratsk , a good sized manufacturing center far down the north flowing angara river . the irkutsk region is home to about two million people . simple math says the rate of h.i.v . infection is somewhere between 1 in 40 and 1 in 400 . ''but you really have to measure it against the number of youth , '' because drug use and h.i.v . are largely confined to the young , said yelena a . lyustritskaya , who heads a government commission on drug abuse . ''and in the irkutsk region there are 300 , 000 people between the ages of 14 and 28 . so it turns out that every third or fourth young man at age 18 or 20 takes drugs . '' no one knows the infection rate among those users . but dr . maksim medvedev , who screens addicts for a private rehabilitation program called siberia without drugs , says roughly 3 of every 10 people he examines have the aids virus . at the government 's principal rehabilitation center , 40 of the 62 inpatients are infected with h.i.v . talk to some of the current and reformed addicts at that center , a tidy , but rundown and cheerless place , and those numbers do not seem so outlandish . ''we used to be the department for glue sniffers , '' one of the center 's doctors said . ''there is only one sniffer here now . there are no alcoholics . they are all drug addicts . '' a buzz cut 16 year old who moved from opium to heroin said he believed that he had gotten h.i.v . by sharing his needle late last year . one 17 year old with h.i.v . and hepatitis , who began using opium at 15 and switched to heroin about six months ago , offered a common theory to explain the epidemic outsiders salted the heroin with the ground up bones of african aids victims . ''the countries that supply us do n't have anything , only fruits , '' he said . ''siberia 's rich , and they want everybody here to die . '' natalya kozhevnikova , a 27 year old from a small diamond mining town , said many addicts there began using drugs at ages 12 or 13 . ''there is nothing to do no movie_theaters , no discos , nothing , '' she said . lelia starodumova , 23 , was a swimming champion and model before she started opium four years ago . now she and her husband are heroin addicts , and she carries h.i.v . ''ninety nine percent of drug addicts have h.i.v . , '' she said blandly . ''the only ones who are n't sick are the ones who have n't had their blood tested . '' in a bleak two room apartment across town , opposite the ramshackle factory that produces russia 's top fighter jet , the su 30 , andrei kurnosov , a 30 year old addict , said he had been on drugs for nine years . when he began , he said , he was among the top five in his law class , aiming for a chance to study in the united_states . now he practices petty thievery and rolls small time drug sellers for the 150 rubles about 5 he needs daily to finance his habit . mr . kurnosov says he has avoided h.i.v . through blind luck . he has shared needles with other addicts , the last time three months ago , although he knows the dangers full well . ''you do n't care when you need a dose , '' he said . ''the fear of remaining sober and in pain overwhelms any fear of sickness . '' heroin 's death grip on its victims offers some explanation of why h.i.v . has raced through irkutsk 's addict population . opium , whose less insistent craving grants a user some time to find a clean syringe , once was the drug of choice . but unlike heroin , which needs only water to be injected , opium must be carefully cooked and mixed . so when heroin suddenly appeared some 18 months ago , addicts switched en_masse . it first came in liquid form in bottles or already loaded syringes and groups of users foolishly filled their syringes from the same bottle , raising the odds that one infected addict would contaminate many others . today heroin comes as a powder wrapped in paper ''checks , '' russian slang for the cash_register tapes that they resemble . fifty ruble and 100 ruble checks are sold almost brazenly , from newsstands and bread kiosks and by loitering dealers , in any number of open air drug markets around town . addicts say many police officers have been bought off , and they may be right in one muddy north side market named treity posylok , or third settlement , a militia jeep cruised past knots of dealers and addicts twice in 10 minutes one afternoon this week . the police , meanwhile , say the heroin trade is ballooning despite their best efforts to stop it . the drug comes by truck from afghanistan and tajikistan , far to the west of irkutsk , and is distributed throughout siberia from the southern russian city of novosibirsk . irkutsk 's militia seized about 400 pounds of drugs last year , well ahead of previous years but a pittance in comparison with the total traffic . smugglers vacuum pack heroin or hide it in shipments of rotting onions to deter drug sniffing_dogs . more and more , the trade has shifted from individual free lancers to organized_crime . ''it 's difficult to control the flow , '' the deputy chief of the eastern_siberia militia , pyotr kobalchok , said this week . ''we 've even arrested members of the tajikistan special services who were escorting the smugglers . it 's that well organized . '' beneath such frustration over irkutsk 's plight runs a subtle but pointed undercurrent this region never had such problems when the soviet_union existed . addiction and aids are among the consequences of freedom and capitalism that westerners neglected to mention when communist rule ended a decade ago . law enforcement officials unanimously blame the drug problem on the opening of soviet borders and the loosening of government control over ordinary people . ''back then , there were no charter flights , '' said nikolai pushkar , chief of the eastern_siberia transport militia , which battles drug smuggling . ''everything was state owned , and it was n't possible to negotiate with the state . in the past only the president could have his own plane . now anyone with money can have a plane . ''no matter how much we criticize the soviet system , there was a certain ideology . we were educated in an absolutely different way . of course , there were abuses when the state interfered with family life . but there were standards then . '' irkutsk has declared its own war on both of its epidemics , hiring new narcotics police , printing educational brochures and changing the school curriculum to promote what officials call ''the healthy way of life . '' but beyond telling people to just say no to drugs , officials have done little to prevent the spread of h.i.v . among addicts and have no immediate plans to do so . proven aids preventive measures , like providing drug addicts with sterile needles or bottles of virus killing bleach , remain on the drawing board in part , some critics say , because politicians believe that they amount to an endorsement of drug use . ''we had contact with different people last year , including people from foreign countries where such programs are implemented , '' dimitri piven , the irkutsk region 's deputy head of health_care , said in an interview this week . ''since there are different schemes , we are choosing an optimal one for ourselves . '' mr . piven said officials would try to put new preventive measures into effect among addicts before year 's end . the addict mr . kurnosov , his gaunt , rheumy face a contrast to hands swollen grotesquely by repeated injections , said that would be too late for many addicts . for many others , it already is . ''the generation of the 70 's is dying , '' he said . ''the generation of the 80 's is already dead not all , not 100 percent . but 50 percent are killing themselves before a natural death . ''

has a location of russia

bereaved families observed the second anniversary of the start of a hostage siege at a public_school in beslan , tolling a bell slowly in the remains of the gym where more than 1 , 100 hostages were held by a chechen terrorist group . a total of 332 people were killed in the siege . families and survivors demanded , as they have since the siege ended in gunfire and flame , an honest government accounting of the bungled government response . many questions remain unanswered . a russian opposition politician recently advanced his own theory , claiming the final battle began when troops fired two rockets at the school . the official version holds that the terrorists' own bombs exploded in error or by chance . the evidence for each theory is unclear and in dispute . c . j . chivers ( nyt )

has a location of russia

with the publication of a decree by president boris n . yeltsin in the official press , possibly on wednesday , all advertisements for tobacco and alcohol products will be banned in russia . public_health specialists have expressed delight in what they say is a long overdue attempt to address the alarming surge in illness and death rates here . " we have been saying for years that as long as the most popular man in russia is the marlboro man , we ca n't even begin to do much about the wretched health of the nation , " said dr . galina m . perfilyeva , an outspoken public_health expert here , who has a radio show on which she implores people to stop smoking , drink less and eat healthy food . " this is finally an acknowledgment that something immediate needs to be done . " under the decree , television , radio , newspapers and magazines will be forced to stop carrying such advertisements , and if they do not comply they will have to turn over any revenue to the health ministry for public education programs . the ban also includes advertisements for ubiquitous medical services from faith healers and unlicensed doctors . previous bans have never really worked , and this one may not either . the city of moscow officially banned alcohol and tobacco advertisements from bus stops , kiosks and billboards two years ago , but almost no one paid any attention . it is not known whether that ban will now be enforced . but with death rates unmatched by any country in the industrialized world and cancer and heart_disease rates that rise astronomically each year , public_health officials have been heartened by the unexpected decree from a man who in the past has said that if something is legal it should be legal to advertise it . the business community foreign and local is as angered by the new decree as the medical community is pleased . hurt badly at home by mounting health concerns and increasingly restrictive anti smoking laws , american companies have vigorously embraced russia , where almost 70 percent of adults smoke . virtually all american_tobacco companies are competing for a part of the market here , and most have invested in the dozens of cigarette plants scattered across this country and the other former soviet republics . russia has become so influenced by advertising and prestige that more than a third of all vodka consumed here is now imported . " the biggest loser is the consumer , because this is censorship , " said bruce a . macdonald , general director of advertising at bbdo world marketing in moscow . " we do n't allow tobacco and alcohol advertising on television in america either . but it was a process . the president did not decide by himself on a weekend to do it . " it has been a process here , too , although one that has been sometimes difficult to comprehend . there are almost no laws in russia about the content of ads , and when they do exist they are hard to enforce . the growth of the advertising industry , which now takes in more than 1 billion a year , has been dramatic in the last three years as western and russian companies try to penetrate the world 's largest new open market . it is worth noting that mr . yeltsin has issued many decrees in the past and not all of them are followed . this may be different . ostankino , the government television_station , said on monday that it would immediately stop showing any ads because they caused too much " social disruption . " today , officials there said the self imposed ban would be temporary . but the social disruption from alcohol_abuse and nicotine addiction here is difficult to overstate . russia has what some experts think is the highest rate of alcohol consumption in the world . in the moscow region alone 14 percent of deaths last year were related to alcohol , while more than 14 , 000 crimes and more than two thirds of all killings were committed by people obviously drunk when arrested . as a market for cigarettes , only the united_states , china and the combined countries of the european_union are larger and with russians smoking more than 150 billion cigarettes a year , none are growing as fast . it has been hard to convince people here that advertisements for cigarettes or alcohol can make much difference in the nation 's health , even though in the west public_health leaders often say that nothing has been as important in changing habits and reducing disease rates . when the first cigarette ad was shown here in 1992 on ostankino , the station 's advertising manager said , " in the conditions we live under , smoking does not look like such a big deal . " that is the approach that many television stations have taken . they will be sorely affected by the ban , because russia_today is not a country where advertising revenue is easy to find . advertising is estimated to account for up to 20 percent of employment at most television stations here , and as much as half of all ad money comes from cigarettes or alcohol . advertising officials say the ban could cost russia 500 million to 1 billion in western investment in the next five years . but mikhail seryegin , director of television advertising at premier , one of the leading russian agencies , said today that clever companies could always find a way around bans . he said he viewed the decree as temporary .

has a location of russia

an american company that provides space services to nasa has reached an agreement for a russian company to build and place on the international_space_station a new segment totally devoted to commercial projects . the american concern , spacehab inc . , is to announce on friday that it will provide some of the financing for rsc energia , a russian space hardware company , to build a pressurized module that is to be attached to the russian part of the international station to serve business customers . the module , named enterprise , will be used for industry sponsored experiments and manufacturing , and serve as a base for providing commercial broadcasting and internet_services from space , spacehab officials said . the company estimated that developing and testing the module and its commercial communications system would cost 100 million . david a . rossi , spacehab 's president , said the company would provide 50 million in cash and would ensure that its russian partners had what was needed to complete their obligations , perhaps in the form of loan_guarantees . under the agreement , mr . rossi said , the module will be jointly owned by spacehab and energia , with the possibility that russia 's national space agency will also become a part owner . the 60 billion space_station , being built in segments 250 miles above earth , is to be a giant laboratory weighing almost a million pounds when it is finished in 2004 . the project , led by the united_states , is a concerted effort of 16 countries the others are russia , japan , canada , brazil and 11 nations of the european_space_agency . the united_states and other partners in the station have said they eventually want some of it , or all , to be commercialized so as to help produce a return on the investment . the newly announced segment , spacehab officials said , will be the first major step in that direction . ''this will be the first commercial module on the space_station , and it will open a new era in space commerce , '' said dr . shelley a . harrison , chairman of spacehab , a publicly traded company based here in washington that owns and leases out pressurized modules flown on the space_shuttle . ''this gives us our own destination on the space_station , '' dr . harrison said . ''with it , we can build facilities based on customer requirements and supply space based services available nowhere else . '' marcia smith , a space policy analyst with the congressional_research_service , agreed that ''spacehab is taking the first bold step toward space_station commercialization , which many people have talked about but no one has done before . '' ms . smith called the initiative ''a daring gamble'' to make space commercialization practical . she said the effort faced many hurdles , among them the question whether the cash short russians can come up with their share of the money needed to build , test and launch the module . she also noted that adding this new module to the space_station would require using some of the power , crew time and other resources of the outpost . those resources are limited , and use of them will mean a need to reach agreements with the station 's other partners , who have yet to see details of the proposal . john d . schumacher , the national_aeronautics_and_space_administration 's associate director for international_relations , called the spacehab project ''an exciting development'' that still had to be worked out in detail to see how the module would fit on the space_station . ''we 've always encouraged commercial interests on the station , '' mr . schumacher said , ''and want to see how they will meet the requirements to be included . '' mr . schumacher said the space_station 's partners had signed agreements on how additions could be made to it where new mass can be added , for instance , and how much electrical power is available . he noted that the russians were already committed to providing two experimental modules for the station , and said the commercial module might fulfill the requirement for one of them if the russian space agency was involved . ''at this point , '' he said , ''we know very little about the spacehab energia proposal , and look forward to seeing the details . '' dr . harrison , of spacehab , said the proposed module would be similar to others on the station . it would be a pressurized cylinder 36 feet long and 12 feet in diameter weighing between 15 , 000 and 20 , 000 pounds , and would have attachment points on its exterior for instruments or experiments . the module would not have solar_power panels , spacehab officials said , because it would be located at the bottom of the station , blocked from direct sunlight . but the company is considering the addition of some kind of fuel_cells devices that produce electricity through chemical reactions at some point after launching to provide power beyond that drawn from the station 's grid . spacehab officials said that in addition to renting out commercial research space , they hoped to make money by using their module for space science education projects involving schools around the world some of these have been initiated on space_shuttle flights . the company also hopes to use the communications equipment for advertiser supported television and internet broadcasts from space . the space_station currently consists of two segments , one american and one russian , launched late last year . while a dozen major components wait to be linked together in space , construction has been halted for a year because of russia 's inability to complete a crucial third segment on time and delays in the united_states' space shuttle program that were caused by electrical_wiring problems . flights to the station are set to resume early next year .

has a location of russia

an article on feb . 10 about president vladimir v . putin 's appeal for russians to become fit misidentified the sea into which the volga_river flows , in the astrakhan region where a television_station began a morning exercise program . it is the caspian , not the black_sea .

has a location of russia

in a nation brimming with advanced technology but sorely_lacking in business acumen , one of the old soviet_union 's most impressive legacies , its space_program , is shaping up to be one of the new russia 's rare economic success stories . unquestioned in their technological prowess , russia 's rocket and satellite makers and other space oriented enterprises have also displayed a surprisingly deft capitalist touch in forging ties with western partners and finding new markets for their products around the world . during the last several years they have won orders valued at more than 1 billion from western companies and governments , including contracts for launching rockets for iridium , the global telephone system being set up by motorola satellite propulsion systems in a joint_venture with the loral corporation , and research and development programs for the national_aeronautics_and_space_administration , as well as for european space agencies and aerospace companies . " the market is the future and we have to learn to work in it , " said aleksandr i . medvedchikov , the russian space agency 's deputy director general for international cooperation . " there are many things we do n't know how to do yet , but we 're learning fast . " the leader in the russian space industry 's transformation is the khrunichev state research and production space center in moscow . while still owned by the government , khrunichev is managed much like a private business . once best known as the maker of the ss 18 and ss 19 intercontinental ballistic_missiles which the united_states considered particularly dangerous because of their accuracy and explosive power khrunichev took the audacious step in the late 1980 's of turning away military orders and focusing on busi nesses with long term commercial prospects , particularly in space . it was merged recently with the salyut design bureau , the developer of many of russia 's spacecraft , and is now the country 's leading supplier of space hardware , having built , among other things , the mir_space_station . in addition , it has developed close ties to american companies , including the lockheed corporation and iridium . as a result , its managers said they were confident about the future of the enterprise . " we will continue to grow , " said aleksandr v . lebedev , the deputy director general . the commercialization of russia 's space industry is an encouraging development in the nation 's chaotic economic metamorphosis , and the revenues it generates should help maintain the nation 's technology base . what is happening among russian enterprises mirrors similar trends in the industry in the united_states and other countries , where the emphasis is shifting away from supplying government space programs , which are being reduced in scale because of budget pressures . instead , the focus is increasingly on opportunities for private enterprise in areas like telecommunications , navigation , weather forecasting , earth imaging and producing materials in low gravity . the russian industry 's transformation has also sharply increased competition in the rapidly growing worldwide market for rocket launchings , satellites and other space oriented products and services . russian officials said that by taking advantage of not just their technical expertise but also their ability to charge less in some cases than their western rivals , they expected their share of the space business to grow in coming years , making russia a pivotal competitor in an industry where rivalries among the united_states , europe and asia are already intense . fearful that russia might undercut the prices charged for rocket launchings by companies like the mcdonnell_douglas corporation and the martin_marietta corporation , the united_states has imposed quotas and price restrictions on launchings by russian rockets of satellites containing american technology . but the end of the cold_war has accelerated cooperation between russia and the united_states and other western countries in their national space programs , paving the way for technology exchanges and closer personal ties . at the same time , the opening up of russia 's economy and the network of laboratories , design and production centers that make up the country 's space industry has drawn widespread interest from western aerospace and technology companies looking to do business . " they have so many different enterprises involved , so many different capabilities , so many different ways of getting into space , that there 's a lot to select from , " said bob berry , the president of space systems loral , a division of loral , the aerospace and electronics company based in new york . " if we find ways to utilize their people and expertise , it 's going to provide a good basis for business and international_trade . " in the last several years there has been a steady flow of deals . khrunichev , the maker of russia 's workhorse proton rocket , has sold launchings to inmarsat , the 67 nation telecommunications satellite consortium , and to iridium , which plans to launch 21 small satellites on three proton rockets starting next year . khrunichev has also spent 40 million for a 5 percent stake in iridium , one of the first investments by a russian enterprise in a western company . through a joint_venture it developed with lockheed in the united_states , khrunichev , along with energia , another rocket builder , has also contracted for launchings to the societe europeene des satellites , a european satellite_television company , and to loral . loral , having separately discovered a small russian enterprise producing innovative lightweight , low cost thrusters used by satellites to maneuver in orbit , has also created a joint_venture to bring the technology to the west , possibly even for use in satellites made for the pentagon . rimsat , a provider of telecommunications satellite services based in fort_wayne , ind . , has not only contracted for launchings from russia , but is buying seven russian made satellites as well . even nasa is buying the business opportunities for the russian space industry are not limited to the private_sector . as part of a program of increased cooperation between the american and russian space programs , nasa plans to spend 400 million to buy products and services from russia in the next four years . the bulk of the financing will go to flights by american astronauts on the mir_space_station , but nasa officials said some of the money would also be used to develop and acquire technologies from russian enterprises in areas like solar_power systems . ultimately , the united_states , russia and europe plan to cooperate in the building of a staffed space_station , and russian enterprises are expected to play a pivotal role in its design and manufacturing . " together we can do much more than separately , " said mr . medvedchikov of the russian space agency . khrunichev 's prospects rest largely on the proton rocket , which was developed in the 1960 's . its relatively simple design has made it the world 's most reliable launch vehicle . in 218 launchings , the proton has achieved a success rate of about 96 percent , above the rates of mcdonnell_douglas 's delta , martin_marietta 's atlas and titan , and the european ariane . almost half the price but it is the proton 's potential price advantage over western launchers that has excited the biggest reaction . khrunichev 's first big commercial contract with the west was the deal it signed last year to launch a telecommunications satellite for inmarsat for 35 . 5 million , compared with 60 million or more charged by american and european competitors . under pressure from the american launching industry , the united_states subsequently imposed stiff restrictions on russian launchings . only eight russian launchings of american satellites to geostationary orbits 22 , 300 miles above the equator would be permitted through 1999 . ( the lockheed khrunichev joint_venture has already sold options for nine launchings , although not all of them are likely to become firm orders . ) in addition , if russia charged less than 7.5 percent below the western launching price , the deal would be referred to the united_states_government for review , a provision that would effectively keep the price of a proton launching close to current market rates . khrunichev and lockheed said they expected the demand for launchings to outstrip the supply , even including the capacity offered by the proton and rockets being built by other countries , including china and japan . in the end , they said , they expect demand pressures to result in the loosening or elimination of the quotas . " if we 're right that the market is going to grow , there will be natural ways for the quota to be revisited , " said mel brashears , a vice_president of lockheed . moreover , the quota is limited in its effect because it does not cover satellites sent into low earth orbit , about 600 miles up . low earth orbit satellites are shaping up as the biggest growth market in coming years as ventures like iridium get started . lower costs whether it is dealing with geostationary or low earth orbit launchings , khrunichev 's costs are clearly lower than those of western competitors , though mr . lebedev argued that the costs of materials in russia were rising rapidly and that any cost differential was disappearing rapidly . in the meantime , khrunichev appears quite happy to charge the market price for its launchings and avoid a price_war and the risk that the united_states would impose further quotas or price restrictions . while most enterprises that once made up the soviet_military industrial complex are reeling financially , mr . lebedev insisted that khrunichev was sound . the enterprise has undoubtedly been helped by unspecified financial guarantees or backing provided through the venture with lockheed , as well as by a_10 million loan last month from the european bank for reconstruction and development . the loan is to help finance work on the proton that will launch the inmarsat telecommunications satellite . so sanguine is mr . lebedev that he said khrunichev was considering making another investment in an american company , which he declined to identify .

has a location of russia

grozny 's hospital no . 4 , one of only three hospitals still open in this city eviscerated by war , is barely functioning , with most of its buildings in ruins . only a few rooms are open , with four to six beds each , most of them full . an old woman lies awkwardly , her skin swollen and black , while her relatives hover around as in any hospital anywhere , hoping for the best . " we do what we can , " said dr . magomed surumov , the chief doctor at the hospital , shrugging . " people want to try to work it 's good for them . " the parts of this hospital that escaped the shelling were badly looted and mined . at the height of the war for grozny , the capital of secessionist chechnya , russian soldiers fired automatic weapons at the hospital , chechen doctors said . still , hospital no . 4 remained open . now , with aid from western relief agencies and the russian government , the staff sees 60 outpatients a day . only two other civilian hospitals function in grozny the other 10 hospitals and nearly all the clinics have been destroyed . in a city with many corpses , little clean_water and no working sanitation , electricity or heat , " the very biggest problem is infectious_diseases , " dr . surumov said . hospital no . 4 is in poor condition to cope . the problems are so acute , dr . surumov said , " it 's like having to begin again . " the hospital has only about 20 doctors , compared with 100 before the war , and 35 nurses , compared with 150 earlier . " many doctors and nurses left grozny , " dr . surumov said flatly . " many could be dead in their apartments . frankly we do n't know whether they are alive or not . " he is particularly worried about cholera , a water borne bacterial disease that is most likely to spread in warm_weather and grozny is warming with the arrival of spring and diphtheria , which is prevalent throughout russia due to poor vaccination practices . " there will be cholera here absolutely , " dr . surumov said . about 140 , 000 people now live in grozny , from a prewar population of 400 , 000 . most are ethnic_russians , mostly elderly and female , who have nowhere to go . many chechens moved out to live with relatives in the villages , though some are beginning to return , to try to sift through the rubble and reconstruct their lives . many people are sick with infections , malnutrition and the psychological consequences of the war , and say they do not know where to go for help there is no city transport to bring them in any case . a ragged , anguished woman begged a visitor she met in the dusty ruined street for spare eyeglasses . " i 've lost mine , " she said , waving her hands in the air . " i ca n't see to find my documents . " one western aid agency wrote in a medical evaluation " the overall situation is perfect for the outbreak of communicable_diseases . overcrowding , lack of shelter , lack of heat , absence of water and a very scanty food distribution all contribute to this high risk of disease . it is vital that emergency vaccination , water and sanitation , as well as food distribution , be addressed immediately . " with the help of the russian ministry for emergency services , the international committee of the red_cross and a british relief agency called merlin , hospital no . 4 has received fresh_water , some drugs and an electrical generator . the french and belgian branches of doctors without borders are helping the other two hospitals . preventing epidemics will require much more , the agencies say , including mobile clinics . cholera can be averted with clean_water and good hygiene . at minimum , people need about half a gallon of water a day for drinking and a total of 1.3 gallons to enable them to wash . about 53 , 000 gallons are being trucked in , but at least 150 , 000 gallons a day are needed . many people , especially the old and infirm , drink polluted water . there are many cases of hepatitis , upper respiratory infection and acute intestinal diseases like dysentery . diphtheria , polio , hepatitis a , measles and tetanus will also spread unless a mass vaccination campaign starts quickly , said dr . michael schubert , a surgeon working for merlin . dr . schubert also worries about the number of elderly left in grozny who have chronic diseases like diabetes , heart insufficiency and hypertension . " they are easy to treat , but with so few drugs here the chronic situation gets acute , " he said . then there are many cases of extreme emotional shock . an old russian man , wandering aimlessly through the cratered , trash filled streets , looked puzzled . " there must have been an earthquake here , " he said . " it 's all destroyed . " dr . schubert , 31 , a german who has also worked in rwanda , said " i 've never seen so many desperate people . i 've seen post_traumatic_stress syndrome before , but not in such quantities . " he is upset by the paucity of western aid agencies here . " we 're very surprised by how few westerners are here , and i do n't understand why , " he said . " i do n't know if it 's a political decision , or if the number of people suffering is not considered high enough , " he said sarcastically . with a translator , he visited an old russian woman with some medicine for her husband 's heart and bad back . her building , on lenin prospekt , was shattered by shellfire her kitchen wall is full of huge holes and all the windows are missing . " the needs are absolutely enormous , " said marianne coradazzi , a red_cross official for the north caucasus . " almost any kind of medicine is required . " the red_cross has 70 workers who truck in 33 , 000 gallons of fresh_water a day from a well they dug in the mountains 34 miles away " the closest source of fresh_water , " ms . coradazzi said . the red_cross also tries to help the 250 , 000 or more chechens displaced by the fighting and visits prisoners on both sides to try to reduce violations of human_rights , especially the beating of chechen detainees by russian troops , the red_cross says . it has established a tracing agency a sort of post_office so that those who survived can try to contact relatives . it is handling 2 , 000 messages a week . the russian military has been reasonably helpful , ms . coradazzi said , but the russians are limiting red_cross access to southern chechnya , where the fighting is now most intense and more refugees are being created . brigitte vasset , director of operations for doctors without borders , says the russians have stopped all their convoys to southern chechnya . " it is deplorable to deny humanitarian_assistance to innocent victims of war , " she said . the local russian installed government also wants to improve hygiene , and plans to open portable baths , collect remaining corpses and rebury those put into too shallow ground . officials may also try to get rid of the dogs that sometimes feed off the dead . " in kigali , they shot all the dogs , " dr . schubert said , referring to the capital of rwanda . " they are vectors for all kinds of diseases . "

has a location of russia

when lena , 20 , arrived at a seedy hotel here after a call from the amazonka escort service dispatcher , she felt fortunate . the client took one look at her waist length , platinum blond_hair and chose her over the two other prostitutes the dispatcher had sent over for his inspection . but her luck soured when a vice detective knocked on the hotel room door , ordered her to get dressed , and put her into an unmarked police van . the nice young client turned out to be an undercover police_officer . at the station , however , it was the detectives who felt unlucky . the three prostitutes , their driver , and pimp were processed , fined the maximum penalty of 14 , and were back on the street in less time that it took the undercover police_officer to register at the hotel . upon their release , as the women greeted each other with jaunty , knowing smiles , lieut . andrei demikhov let his frustration spill over . ''the laws do n't work , '' he said . ''if women want to work as prostitutes , there is nothing we can do to stop it . '' that sense of futility is one reason the saratov police force , the local governor , and many other local officials are behind a drive to legalize prostitution here . in this industrial town on the volga , an ailing economy and wages that rarely top 40 a month have driven hundreds of local women teachers , nurses , single mothers and even schoolgirls to work as prostitutes . and that has fomented organized_crime and a staggering rise in venereal disease , aids and tuberculosis in saratov . syphilis rates alone are four times higher here than they were three years ago . all these disturbing trends are cited as reasons to legalize prostitution . plenty of officials in other russian cities with similar problems , notably st . petersburg and kaliningrad , are also debating legalization . but dmitri ayatskov is the first regional governor in russia to take the plunge and sponsor legislation to open government brothels . if he has his way , licensed prostitutes would work freely in a designated area provided they are of age , pass regular health inspections , register their clients , and pay taxes . the local legislature is set to vote on a law legalizing prostitution in the coming months . even if the local legislature passes a bill , saratov is unlikely to become another amsterdam overnight . for one thing , such a bill would clash with russian federal law and would almost certainly be challenged on constitutional grounds . ''we have to do something , '' lieutenant demikhov said . his men , he said , recently arrested a_12 year old girl selling herself on the street who told the police she was trying to raise enough money to buy a barbie doll . ''we cannot go on like this , '' he said . before the revolution , the czarist government allowed public brothels to operate , but they were strictly controlled . even people who support legalization for health reasons express doubts that government brothels could work in today 's more lawless society . ''in russia , the state is absolutely unable to protect prostitutes , '' said igor kohn , an expert on russian sexuality . ''if it happens , they will have to pay both the state and their criminal 'protectors . ' '' the police say that there are more than 80 escort services operating in saratov , a city of one million . in january , the governor and the local legislature banned escort services from advertising in local newspapers , yet the trade continued unabated , as escort services distributed business cards and leaflets . the russian_orthodox_church and the communist_party are strongly against legalization . so are many local residents . but the people who deal with the grimmer consequences of illegal prostitution in saratov every day say they are desperate for some kind of change in the law . ''if it was legal , we could at least examine the women regularly and treat them , '' said olga v . pron , deputy director of the regional skin and venereal diseases clinic in saratov . dr . pron said she sees 15 to 20 new patients a day , and that could be a fraction of those infected . ''if the governor can really push this through and legalize prostitution , '' she said , ''we will build him a monument . '' there is less enthusiasm among prostitutes themselves . women like lena said they are not sure legalization would make their lives any easier . mostly , they seemed worried that aspects of legalization , especially keeping a registry of clients , would inhibit business . at the station , lena was scared and dejected over her first arrest for prostitution , but she gave no indication that she wanted to turn back . ''if i could work as a nurse and be paid decently , then believe me , i would n't work as a prostitute , '' she said grimly . she and her co worker , larisa , 24 , who was arrested in the car as she and another prostitute were leaving the hotel , are both nurses . until they changed careers , they were earning 30 a month at a local hospital . as prostitutes , they have not exactly become rich , however . prostitution is a growth industry in every way except profits . escort services charge 25 an hour . the prostitute keeps about 10 , and the rest is divided between the driver , the pimp , the escort service owner and whomever the service pays for protection . on a really good night , which is rare , larisa said she can clear 80 more than teachers or factory workers here make in a month . theirs is not a glamorous life . even the women who work for escort services a step up from the streetwalkers who risk theft and brutality every time they duck into an alley or climb into a client 's car described in chilling detail the threat of disease , gang rape and beatings . but when asked if she thought legalization would provide her with police protection , irina , 27 , who works for amazonka , looked puzzled . ''but we already have our own police protection , our krisha , '' she said , using the russian word for ''roof , '' a term used to describe either racketeers or corrupt police officers who provide protection from prosecution at a price . corruption is as potent in saratov as the rest of russia . and not even the most ardent reformers believe corruption will dry up if prostitution is legalized . ''we have to be realistic , '' said aleksandr lando , chairman of the regional human_rights commission . ''the most we can expect is to get some measure of control over the spread of aids and venereal disease , and , maybe , collect some tax money . '' mr . lando , who takes the view that women have the right to engage in prostitution if they choose , said he realized that it was unlikely that saratov could legalize the trade on its own any time soon . ''we want to send a wake up call to the central authorities , and make them understand that there is a problem throughout all of russia and that we have to change our laws to deal with it , '' he said . ''it wo n't happen tomorrow , but the time has come to admit that the problem exists . ''

has a location of russia

prosecutors charged two 20 year old college students with murder in the bombing of a moscow market on monday that killed 10 people and wounded more than 40 , and said the attack was racially_motivated . the interfax news_agency reported that the suspects said they did it because ''there are too many asians'' at the cherkizovsky market . the bomb went off in a cafe in the center of the ethnically_diverse marketplace , killing uzbeks and tajiks , as well as russians . no chinese citizens died , contrary to earlier reports by officials who said five had died . on monday , the authorities also described the attack as criminal and blamed gangs fighting for control of moscow 's lucrative and largely unregulated markets . the suspects , oleg kostyryov and ilya tikhomirov , were arrested near the market . officials said they were not part of any extremist organization , and interfax reported that they said they had learned how to build bombs through the internet . james k . philips ( nyt )

has a location of russia

one of the most devastating social consequences of russia 's mismanaged passage to a market_economy over the last decade has been the virtual collapse of its health_care system . soviet_era conditions were poor , with long waits , brusque bureaucracy and uneven standards of care . but today 's problems are more fundamental . public hospitals and clinics lack the most basic medicines and equipment and are nearly overwhelmed by an increasingly sick population . a series of articles in the times over the past month has shown the harsh consequences for ordinary russians . despite successful reform efforts in a few localities and the heroic efforts of dedicated doctors to improvise their way around the shortages , the overall statistics are grim . male life_expectancy has declined to just 59 . 9 years , compared with 74 . 1 years in the united_states . russia 's death rate now surpasses its birth_rate . once tamed infectious_diseases , including tuberculosis , diphtheria and polio , are again spreading at worrisome rates . on top of this , many russians have responded to economic hardships with self destructive forays into alcoholism and violence . the resulting erosion of the able bodied work force threatens russia 's hopes for economic revival , and perhaps for political stability as well . neighboring countries are threatened by the alarming spread of communicable_diseases like drug resistant tuberculosis and aids . revitalizing health_care must now become one of russia 's most urgent priorities . substantial resources will have to be directed into treatment and prevention programs , more than russia 's national or local_governments can currently afford . outside help will be needed as well , from western governments , international aid institutions like the world_bank and private sources like american medical_schools . russia 's wealthy oligarchs should also consider funding philanthropies dedicated to health_care improvements . international assistance programs must be carefully designed to prevent fraud and diversion . foreign dollars ought to be channeled into national childhood immunization programs , providing needed vaccines , training and public education . help is also needed in raising medical salaries , which are abysmally low . even with attention and resources , the revival of public_health care institutions will take years . meanwhile , private hospitals and clinics need to be nurtured and made more accessible to poor and rural russians . the times series reported on a remarkably successful partnership between the cities of la crosse , wis . , and the russian city of dubna , 100 miles north of moscow , that modernized maternity care , pediatric treatment and home_care of the elderly . the key element in these changes was not money , but a series of exchange visits between the two communities that introduced dubna 's political leaders and medical professionals to more up to date methods and techniques . the partnership succeeded in large part because dubna 's leadership did not succumb to the passivity that paralyzes efforts to revitalize russia 's heath care system elsewhere . in today 's interconnected world of migration , investment and trade , no country 's health_care problems stand alone . america and other western nations should recognize that they serve their own interests as well as their humane responsibilities by helping moscow provide for its people a_level of health_care worthy of a modern european nation .

has a location of russia

raybek tovzayev is a chechen warlord who fights on the side of mother russia against the rebels of his homeland whom he calls bandits . he was born in a red brick house perched on a mountaintop where three ancestral villages of his clan look out over the vedeno gorge , a narrow slash of valley cut since prehistory by the retreating snow melt from the high caucasus further south . from here the horizon is a panorama of low , forested mountains and ridgelines that resemble the ozarks in missouri or the cumberlands in tennessee . their profile is softened by a summer haze under a magnificent rotunda of sky where the gift of a breeze is blowing fibrous clouds around as if to vary the mix of light and shadow . it is a recent sunday , and mr . tovzayev has just returned from a memorial service for one of his bodyguards who was killed on june 28 during the seventh attempt by chechen rebel leaders to assassinate mr . tovzayev because , as he says , he is the only thing standing between order and chaos in vedeno . the rebels , especially shamil basayev , the most famous of their leaders , who also comes from vedeno , ''are doing everything they can to get back here and to get rid of me . '' mr . tovzayev is therefore a key link in the russian strategy to pacify chechnya after two cycles of war in the last decade . he stands here musclebound with his kalashnikov automatic_rifle asleep on his shoulder like a latter day hadji murad , the character from tolstoy 's story of the chechen warrior who went over to the russian side , with tragic consequences , in the war against imam shamil in the 19th_century . the vedeno gorge and the argun gorge are the main strategic pathways between the plains of chechnya and the mountains that lead to the borders with dagestan like chechnya a region of russia and georgia . to control the gorges is to control the supply lines and infiltration corridors that sustain the rebellion . ''i am not exactly a petty figure here , '' mr . tovzayev said with pride . nor is he outfitted like one . he wears a solid gold chain under his camouflage jersey and a matching flak_jacket and pants , which are tucked into combat_boots . a gold watch on his wrist accents the gold chain as well as the gold trim on his tasseled muslim prayer cap . a motorola walkie_talkie is hitched to his belt . for an outer layer , there are enough ammo clips and grenades hanging from his torso to have saved john dillinger . mr . tovzayev never intended to become a fighter on either side of this war . but on aug . 18 , 1995 , a band of rebels led by allauddin khamzatov came to this hamlet and told the residents that they were setting up camp . ''my father told them to leave , because not a single person in this village has fought against the federals . '' but instead of heeding the old man , ''they killed him'' in front of his family . when word reached mr . tovzayev he was in europe , trying to make money in trade he immediately returned home to carry out the chechen tradition of blood revenge . ''it did not take me three months , '' he said . he and the band of fighters he raised from his clan set out to find mr . khamzatov , and they found him in the town of mairtup in october . they hid there and waited_patiently , studying his habits . then , on oct . 17 , they laid an ambush on a road and blew apart the car that mr . khamzatov was riding in with his senior aides . ''there were three cars in convoy , about 15 men , but we only hit the one where he was , '' mr . tovzayev said . ''all of those who killed my father were in that car . thus , i revenged . '' nothing has been the same for him since . ''this is how this kind of life started fighting bandits , '' he said . ''in march 1996 , when i entered grozny , i was encircled by about 60 of them and barely escaped , '' he recounted . ''then in june 1996 , i was arrested by basayev 's people and put in basayev 's prison at dargov . '' as chaos , violence , kidnapping and crime spread across chechnya after the first chechen war and the withdrawal of russian troops , mr . tovzayev could see that nothing would soon return to normal in this land . after half a year in prison , ''on the night of feb . 19 , 1997 , i managed to escape to dagestan , '' he said , walking through freezing and snow laden high passes for days until he reached safety . then he slipped back into vedeno , where he built his militia force of more than 130 fighters and waited for russia to act . ''in the second war , '' he said with pride , ''we organized a volunteer opposition unit for the liberation of vedeno , and in february 2000 we were in front of the russian troops and we liberated vedeno . '' the russian army is trying to keep mr . tovzayev alive . he has survived five mine explosions , and during an ambush on july 20 , 2000 , he was seriously wounded and underwent_surgery at russia 's interior_ministry hospital in moscow . recently , col . gen . gennadi n . troshev , commander of russian forces in the northern caucasus , gave mr . tovzayev a jeep with bulletproof windows and doors . he was riding in it on june 28 at 5 30 in the afternoon down the single road he must travel between home and office in vedeno , where he is chief of the administration . gunfire_erupted from the forest on both sides of the road . ''there were more than 30 of them , '' he said . the car behind him took a direct hit from a grenade_launcher . ''two of my guards died , as well as the deputy head of the militia , '' he said . ''two more guards were wounded , but we managed to repel the attack after about 20 minutes , and we picked up our wounded and escaped . '' it will probably not be the last attack . mr . tovzayev 's jeep is not armored against a mine blast . general troshev has decorated him with the ''order of courage'' medal for his perseverance . and he is working with the local residents to persuade them to stop aiding the rebels . ''not all rebels are bandits , '' he said . ''there are some decent people among them , but they are afraid to come out of the forests . '' eventually they will , he believes . and every morning his men sweep the road for mines here in ambush alley so he can stay alive to see that day . upper vedeno journal

has a location of russia

an auction next month of the more prized technological remains of the soviet_union will include once secret notebooks and diaries of space officials that historians say should provide insights into early soviet successes and failures on the new space frontier . in another reverberation of the soviet_union 's collapse and the end of the cold_war , the documents are among dozens of artifacts being offered for sale by former russian officials , engineers and astronauts and also by financially pressed government agencies . the sale is being held on dec . 11 at sotheby 's , the international auction house , in manhattan . david n . redden , a senior vice_president of sotheby 's , said that a draft of instructions to the astronaut yuri gagarin for the first flight by a man in space in 1961 should be worth up to 10 , 000 . the diaries of dr . vasily p . mishin , once head of the soviet space program , may bring 30 , 000 . and the soyuz tm 10 capsule , one of several spacecraft for sale , is being priced at 3 million to 5 million . failures and frustrations although collectors may be drawn to things like the slide rule of sergei p . korolev , the first head of soviet space_exploration , or assorted spacesuits , historians who have had to assess the program mostly from second hand information say the materials should be the source of more insightful and authoritative scholarship . james e . oberg , a space engineer in houston and author of " red_star in orbit , " said the 31 volume mishin diaries , started a year after the first sputnik flight in 1957 and kept through 1974 , include many fresh details about soviet plans and failures as well as his frustrations with bureaucratic foot_dragging and interagency rivalries . " any attempt at telling the history of the space_race without the material in these notebooks will be second_rate , " mr . oberg said . " these may be the key contemporary account of the space_race . " the mishin diaries , he said , remove any lingering doubts anyone might have that in the 1960 's the russians placed a high priority of efforts to beat the united_states to the moon , a program they abandoned only after the apollo 11 lunar landing in 1969 . a pressurized suit designed for use by russians on the surface of the moon is among the materials for sale . after years of denials by silence and misinformation , soviet officials finally disclosed in 1989 that they had been racing americans to the moon and even showed visiting american engineers a spacecraft that had been ready to go to the moon in 1968 . repeated failures of a booster_rocket delayed the program and eventually caused its cancellation . spacecraft designer 's vision a preliminary study of the diaries , mr . oberg said , showed that american space experts and intelligence sources had apparently developed a reasonably accurate overview of the soviet space program when it was still shrouded in secrecy . but he said the mishin diaries were somewhat surprising in their disclosures of " how bitter and destructive were the rivalries between industrial groups within the space_program " and how this " ultimately was the crippling factor " that caused inefficiencies and failures . historians are also expected to find interesting material in two notebooks by konstantin feoktistov , an engineer who designed the early soviet spacecraft and became an astronaut . his entries in the notebooks for 1958 and 1959 provide contemporary documentation of the organization of the soviet space program in the months after the first sputnik launching , something previously unavailable to researchers . in an essay titled " a long range program to master outer_space , " mr . feoktistov outlined plans for exploring near earth_orbit , then the moon , venus and mars and made drawings of the first craft for human flight and its proposed landing technique . in nearly every respect , these plans and drawings in 1958 were carried out over the next decade . from first man in space the feoktistov notebooks also include an excerpt from the post flight report by mr . gagarin , which is signed by the astronaut . he described how well a person could see the surface of earth from orbit , the blackness of the sky in space and how earth " has a very characteristic , very beautiful blue halo , which is well seen when you observe the horizon . " of weightlessness , the first man to fly in space wrote " initially it was an unusual sensation . but i soon got accustomed to weightlessness and continued to execute my program . it is my subjective opinion that the effect of weightlessness does not affect the body 's ability to work or perform physiological functions . " scholars expressed the hope that the notebooks and diaries , in particular , would be acquired by an institution where they would be available for research . mr . redden said , " there 's a tremendous amount of institutional interest , but my experience is that private collectors of such materials are usually incredibly good about sharing them with scholars . "

has a location of russia

filling in for nasa 's grounded space_shuttle , a russian soyuz rocket roared off a kazakhstan launching_pad into orbit today carrying a russian and an american on a crucial mission to sustain the international_space_station . the two crewmen , yuri i . malenchenko and edward t . lu , will replace a crew of two americans and one russian who were forced to extend their time in space after the columbia_disaster left nasa 's shuttle fleet unable to send replacements . a successful launching today was seen as absolutely vital to the space_station 's future , because the russian space_program provides the only means of sending humans into orbit until the american shuttles are certified to fly again and flights resume , perhaps early next year . ''the station ca n't work without the crew , '' mikhail l . pronin , the chief engineer at the russian space agency 's ground control center here , said in an interview . ''and without the crew , there is no program . '' mr . malenchenko , the 41 year old flight commander , and mr . lu , 39 , are flying a mission significantly altered by the columbia_disaster . their main task will be to keep the space_station up and running until another crew arrives in october , most likely on another soyuz rocket . they also will supervise experiments , including one monitoring the growth of crystals in weightless conditions and a second exploring the loss of bone density that plagues humans in weightless conditions . a number of planned experiments were shelved because the columbia_disaster led the two space agencies to reduce the crew for today 's launching from three to two , and to fill the extra space with food and other supplies for the station . nasa 's space shuttles , with a 25 ton payload , normally keep the space_station fully supplied . today 's soyuz launching carried only 2.5 tons of supplies in addition to the crew , and pilotless russian progress space freighters also can carry only 2.5 tons of cargo . russia has said it can launch as many as five missions this year , two of them manned , butmuch of the equipment for those missions remains on productions lines now . mr . lu said he planned to pin a badge to his space_suit to honor the crew of the columbia . ''one of the things that we have been talking about , thinking about before the flight , is that they never really completed their mission , '' mr . lu said . ''we are doing what i think they would have wanted and what their families wished them to do to continue the process of flying into space . '' investigators suspect that a piece of insulating foam that broke off the shuttle 's external fuel tank and struck the left_wing seconds after liftoff created a breach that later allowed hot gases to destroy part of the shuttle 's superstructure . the mission is unusual in that the crewmen leaving the station the americans , capt . kenneth d . bowersox of the navy and donald r . pettit , and the russian flight_engineer nikolai m . budarin are to return to earth in a soyuz_capsule , landing on may 4 in kazakhstan not far from the site of today 's launching . space_station crews normally return to earth in shuttles , and the soyuz capsules , which are regularly docked to the station , are reserved for use in case of emergencies . mr . pronin , the chief engineer at the russian space agency 's mission_control_center , said that the three man crew now at the station was still receiving extra training in space to prepare for a return in the soyuz_capsule . mr . lu and mr . malenchenko , one of russia 's most experienced astronauts , were initially trained to navigate the nasa shuttle to dock with the space_station but received new instructions after the columbia_disaster in linking the soyuz_capsule to the station .

has a location of russia

president_clinton 's decision to retain samples of smallpox virus in the united_states is likely to lead to more scientific cooperation and biological research with russia at a time of badly strained relations , administration officials said yesterday . as expected , the white_house announced yesterday that mr . clinton , acting largely on the advice of independent scientific advisers , had decided to delay the planned destruction of the samples of the deadly virus this june because he fears the disease , which is apparently eradicated , might revive naturally or be spread by a terrorist attack . the white_house stressed that the decision was motivated solely by national_security and scientific considerations , and on the president 's conclusion that retaining the virus was ''the best way to reduce the loss of life in the event of an outbreak , '' said david leavy , spokesman for the national_security_council . he added that the administration hopes that the reversal of its previous support for destruction would open up possibilities for joint research with russia , the only other nation known to have smallpox stocks and a fervent opponent of their destruction . ''we certainly hope to have a cooperative relationship with the russians on this issue , and we have been working together to strengthen security at their facilities and on many other projects of mutual benefit , '' mr . leavy said . specifically , he added , the administration is ''looking forward to working with the russians and others at the world health assembly to build an international consensus on how best to handle this issue . '' the world health assembly , the governing body of the world_health_organization , is to meet in may to consider destroying the remaining samples . the last known outbreak of the disease occurred in somalia in 1977 . smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980 , and in 1996 the assembly recommended the destruction this june of the remaining stocks , which are held under tight security at the centers_for_disease_control and prevention in atlanta and at the russian state research center of virology and biotechnology in siberia . david l . heymann , executive director of the communicable_diseases division of w.h.o. , said the agency would have no official comment until the issue is presented to the assembly . but he added , ''we 're happy to know at least where the united_states stands . '' while most of the assembly 's 191 members appear to favor destruction of the virus , sentiment for retention has been building . at a meeting in january , only five of the nine committee members favored immediate destruction . two supported keeping the stocks indefinitely two favored keeping the stocks for five years and then reviewing the issue . alan p . zelicoff , a senior scientist at the sandia national laboratory center for national_security and arms control , who strongly advocates retaining the stocks , attributed the waning of support for destruction to what he called ''the growing threat of bio terrorism and the enormous advances in microbiology in the past five years . '' dr . zelicoff said that today 's announcement ''opens up tremendous joint research possibilities with the russians , who are way ahead of us in smallpox research . '' he spoke wednesday night to lev sandakhchiev , the director of the institute where russia 's stocks are stored , and reported that the russians are ''excited and encouraged'' by the decision . dr . sandakhchiev has pressed for retaining the stocks . he has also proposed that his lab , a leading center of antiviral work and once the heart of the soviet germ_warfare program , be transformed into an international research center to counter biological terrorism . in an interview in january in moscow , he said all he lacked was money . white_house officials said they had not yet decided how much new research the administration would finance , or what kinds . the white_house has secured 120 million in the current budget to fight biological terrorism research at the centers_for_disease_control , the first such allocation . and the administration is seeking 30 million in the coming year 's budget for new vaccines against such potentially dangerous agents as smallpox and anthrax , which it suspects may have found their way into the arsenals of several rogue_states . brian mahy , the director of viral and ricketts like diseases at the national center for infectious_diseases in atlanta , said the president 's decision would enable his scientists to do more work on virus stocks . at present , dr . mahy said , only six scientists in the pox virus section and the centers_for_disease_control do research on smallpox . their annual budget , he added , is just under 500 , 000 , or about 1 percent of the 40 million spent annually on research . but donald a . henderson , a former white_house science adviser who led the campaign to destroy the virus , said he doubted that much new research would be done . ''i 'll wager over the next five years you 'll see no work whatsoever , '' he said , ''except in the russian laboratory , where smallpox was weaponized . you can draw your own conclusions about that . ''

has a location of russia

the russian plan for an arduous space walk to repair the mir_space_station is technically sound and would not pose excessive risks to the american member of the crew if he is given the assignment , a team of nasa specialists has concluded . ''technically , i do not see any show stoppers , '' said leroy chiao , an american astronaut dispatched here to assess the mir repair mission . ''based on our assessment the risks are manageable . '' nasa , which has come under fire on capital hill for its involvement with the trouble plagued mir , has publicly taken a cautious stance toward the russian proposal to include the american astronaut , michael_foale , in the space walk . but the team of nasa specialists that reviewed the russian repair procedures and contingency_plans endorsed the mission . mr . chiao also talked with mr . foale , who indicated he was prepared to carry out the repairs . ''the team here has given the recommendation back to houston that it can be performed safely , '' mr . chiao said in an interview at the russian mission_control_center here near moscow . in addition to mr . chiao , the team includes richard fullerton and jerry miller , two nasa specialists on space walks , as well as philip engelauf , a flight director . on thursday , nasa will formally announce whether it will allow the british born mr . foale , an astrophysicist , to undergo training for the complex repair mission . if the training proceeds , as expected , a decision on whether mr . foale will carry out the actual repairs would not be made until next week . the main goal of the repair is to restore power to the mir , which was damaged in a june 25 collision with a progress cargo craft . this entails entering the holed spektr module , which has been sealed off , reattaching electrical_cables from the solar arrays there to a specially_designed hatch and resealing the module . but the technical aspects of the mission have often been overshadowed by a broader debate over the safety of the 11 year old mir and the future of american russian space cooperation . though there is no immediate danger to the crew , the russians are eager to carry out the repairs and restore the mir as a fully functioning space_station . some american space officials , such as mr . chiao , believe the united_states can still learn much from stationing astronauts on the mir , particularly since nasa is involved in developing an international_space_station for the next century . but critics say the mir is becoming too dangerous for american astronauts . in terms of personalities , the repair mission has already become something of a space drama . vasily_tsibliyev , the russian commander of the mir and a veteran astronaut , was pulled off the mission after russian physicians concluded he has become disabled by stress and an irregular heartbeat . that left the repairs to the remaining two members of the crew , aleksandr lazutkin and mr . foale . mr . lazutkin would have the lead role in the repair and would be the only crew member to enter the spektr module . trained at the moscow aviation institute as an engineer , he is also a gymnast and a parachutist . but he has never conducted a space walk and was never in space until february , when he came aboard the mir . mr . foale would have an important secondary role and would stay in the node adjacent to the spektr module . a veteran of three space flights , he conducted a space walk during a 1995 american shuttle mission . as a backup for jerry linenger , the previous american astronaut on the mir , mr . foale trained for an external space walk in a russian space_suit . according to the russian plan , both men would don russian space suits . they would then enter the node adjacent to the damaged spektr module and seal the node off from the rest of the mir_space_station . mr . foale would operate the controls that would let the air out of the node to create a vacuum . he would also assist mr . lazutkin by , for example , handing him tools . it is mr . lazutkin who would have the most difficult part of the mission . after the astronauts removed the hatch to spektr , mr . lazutkin would look inside using a flashlight . then he would enter spektr feet first , taking care to avoid any objects that might rip his space_suit . space officials are also concerned that the collision may have damaged some of the contents of the spektr module , which was used for laboratory experiments . there is the danger , for example , that floating debris or spilled chemicals could drift into the mir , endangering the astronauts . so mr . lazutkin would use a towel to capture floating liquid or broken glass . once inside he would attach the cables to a special hatch , which would let the power pass through without letting the air out . after mr . lazutkin left spektr the hatch would be reattached . the node would then be repressurized by opening a passage to the core module of the mir . oxygen bottles would also be used to restore the atmosphere . an additional set of cables would be attached , so that the power could pass from the hatch to the rest of the mir . if the mission is successful , power will restored to the mir and the air inside the space_station will not leak out . but if the hatch cannot be sealed properly and there is a large leak , the crew will have to evacuate using the soyuz_spacecraft docked alongside . mr . tsibliyev will stay in the soyuz while the five hour space walk is being conducted . nasa officials said the training would be carried out in several stages . first the team would practice the procedure without space suits . on monday , they would carry out a full scale dress_rehearsal , wearing space suits . this practice is to be carried out in the node and in the pressured krystall module , which will simulate spektr , mr . chiao said . while nasa officials in houston insisted the agency has not yet decided on on mr . foale 's role , russian officials sought to convince the space agency to allow him to participate . vladimir solovoyov , the mission control chief , said that mr . foale did not see any special problems in the mission and ''is sure it would be a success . ''

has a location of russia

in the intensive_care_unit at hospital no . 1 , there are 12 beds for the near dead . one morning 10 unfortunates lay there , mostly unconscious and virtually naked beneath tobacco colored sheets . the first had ignored an earache that grew into a raging bacterial infection of the brain . the second , third and fourth shattered their bodies in auto accidents . the fifth , sixth and seventh bloodied their brains in mostly drunken falls . the eighth had his skull fractured in a beating . the ninth had been run down by a car . the 10th is yuri ivanov . he was felled by a_20 pound cat , a fat black persian he had been playing with . ''i was walking backward and stumbled on the stairs and fell , '' the 46 year old businessman said through his oxygen mask . ''that night i went to sleep . when i woke up at 6 the next day , my body was all swollen my neck , my shoulders , my hands , my belly everything . '' still more harrowing , his skin crackled like bubble wrap whenever he pressed it . so he drove 50 miles to a doctor who instantly sent him by ambulance to the emergency room here . the diagnosis two broken ribs and a punctured lung . the escaping air had inflated mr . ivanov like a beach toy . almost anywhere , a trip to the hospital is an unsettling experience . but mr . ivanov had cause to be nervous in russia these days it can be a life threatening one . russian hospitals almost all of russian health_care , in fact are in a perilous state . drugs are in short supply if available , they are often too costly for the average citizen to afford . by one 1999 estimate , at least 20 , 000 cancer patients die annually because they cannot afford medicine . by another , some 200 , 000 diabetics are unable to get insulin , even though the government guarantees a free supply , because local and regional governments cannot afford to buy it . with life_expectancy falling , there is rising concern here and in the west that russia is struggling to preserve the well being of its people . should it fail and health_care is one determinant of success american and other experts say russia faces a grim future , and could even require an international rescue effort . doctors and nurses are astonishingly underpaid , as much as a third below the national average . the best leave for better jobs . those who stay battle a lack of money , medicine and equipment . the problem is not just that russia 's health_care system is ancient ( one in 10 hospitals was built before 1914 ) or ill equipped ( one in five hospitals have no running water ) . nor is it that it is huge and inefficient ( 12 , 000 hospitals and 20 , 000 clinics ) . that was true when soviet leaders ruled . the new problem is that there is no health_care system , not like there was before . ''in the soviet_union , we used to have a good system of health_care , '' said rafael g . oganov , director of the government 's national center for preventive_medicine . ''the quality was n't good , of course , but the system was accessible to everyone and free . when the soviet_union collapsed , they began reforms . these reforms have mostly destroyed what existed before , and nothing has replaced it . '' but not for lack of trying . since 1990 , russia has decentralized its soviet health bureaucracy , then tried to recentralize it thrown the door open to private health insurers , then moved to close it guaranteed free medicine to those who needed it , then limited free medicine to the neediest . eight different health ministers have tried to run the system during the last 10 years . ''in typical bolshevik fashion , they decided that this major reform had to be introduced overnight , with no training and no funds to support it , '' said christopher davis , an oxford_university economist who has studied russian health_care . russia 's near depression in the early 1990 's , which decimated tax revenues , delivered the coup de grace . ''if you have inadequate funding , '' mr . davis said , ''you try to put it in the most crucial areas pay the wages of doctors and nurses , get the most vital drugs . you ca n't spend a lot of money on supporting reforms . '' in theory , doctors have more technology and training than ever , and yet they yearn for the days when basic drugs were always in stock and when equipment , however outmoded , at least worked . patients detest bribing doctors and buying medicines , yet cherish the freedom to choose better , if costlier , treatments . the system seems destined to linger in this economic purgatory unless russia 's leaders give it more money and attention . soviet health spending ran between 3 and 3.5 percent of the gross_domestic_product for decades , barely a third of the rate in europe generally . russia now spends perhaps 5 percent of a gross_domestic_product vastly shrunken from soviet days . in 1995 , that amounted to 148 a person , 25 times less than was spent on the average american . ''funding for health_care was always poor in the last 10 years , it 's really gone to hell in a hand basket , '' said james smith , executive director of the american international health alliance , which has worked on russian medical care for a decade . ''there 's not much infrastructure in the united_states or anywhere else that can sustain that for very long . it 's cumulative , and it shows . '' indeed it does inside the trauma ward at n . i . pirogov municipal hospital no . 1 , a rambling 1 , 500 bed institution on the edge of downtown moscow . today it is a russian version of new york 's bellevue moscow 's biggest public_hospital , taking all 35 , 000 comers a year , some rich but most poor . last year 's budget was about 4 . 1 million , somewhat more than it sounds , as it was spent largely on cheaper russian products and salaries . differences in american and russian health_care make comparisons risky . still , catholic medical services in brooklyn , a complex of four hospitals with a similar number of beds 1 , 584 spent 565 million last year to treat 38 , 000 patients . a newcomer could be forgiven for failing to realize that hospital no . 1 is a very well regarded research and teaching_hospital , head and shoulders above most public hospitals outside the capital and st . petersburg . ''the people who work here are fanatics , '' an x_ray technician said . ''either that , or they 're fools . '' tuesday on his third day here , mr . ivanov looks into a mirror for the first time since he punctured his lung playing with his cat . he is appalled . ''nightmare ! '' he says . ''to have a face like this , you have to eat a hundred cheeseburgers a day . '' he is sitting in bed , a blanket folded beneath his legs to relieve the discomfort of his thin mattress . a tube juts out of his chest . on a bedside table are a carton of yogurt , a half eaten cup of berries and an open pack of sovereign cigarettes . mr . ivanov is smoking , his oxygen mask dangling at his side . ''the doctor says i could have three a day , '' he says . dr . aleksandr i . turchev confirms that . ''he can have more if he wants , '' he says . ''better for him to stop when he 's well . '' smoking in hospitals is a tradition from soviet_times . virtually all patients smoke . so do the doctors . a hand scrawled sign in the intensive care lounge declares , ''no smoking . '' it appears to be a joke . dr . turchev began working here in 1971 , just before opec 's influence swelled and left the oil rich soviet_union flush with funds . from 1970 to 1990 , real spending on health leaped 140 percent . but hyperinflation in 1992 , and economic collapse in 1998 , reduced spending drastically , though experts remain uncertain by how much . dr . turchev , now 54 , finds himself longing for the old days . ''sure , in the past we did n't have big possibilities we had less equipment , and lower standards , '' he said . ''but if something happened in intensive care when someone was on duty a light was out , or one of the systems broke down it was an emergency . you could call the main headquarters of the party , and immediately they would fix everything . '' and now ? ''two weeks ago , the central vacuum system in the unit was down , '' he said , referring to electric pumps and hoses that suction fluid from unconscious patients . ''it took 10 days to fix it . '' meanwhile , doctors used an old manual pump . the paradox of hospital no . 1 is on full display here in the ill lit , institutional green i.c.u . each bed has a modern vital_signs monitor and a ventilator for patients who cannot breathe . in the lab , a sophisticated blood gas analyzer produces near instant readings on blood oxygen and carbon_dioxide , otherwise impossible to obtain . but the blood gas analyzer often breaks down . the vital_signs monitors cannot be fully used because attachments to measure blood_pressure in the heart and vessels are too costly . as for the ventilators hand me downs , like the rest , from a closed german hospital they are ''just worn out , '' dr . turchev says . some equipment cannot be fixed because its western manufacturers closed long ago or stopped making parts . angela zabrodnaya , the trauma department 's wilfully cheerful head nurse , is a case in point part of her job is scouring hospital no . 1 's warehouse for that most basic of supplies , the disposable syringe . ''in the soviet_union , everything was simpler , '' she said . ''there was enough for everybody enough to use , enough to steal . but now , we have n't received a single disposable syringe all year . '' doctors seldom use latex gloves despite the risk of infection the supply is largely reserved for surgery . intensive care nurses do not change patients' intravenous catheters without evidence of an infection . american medical custom is to change catheters every three days , infection or not . the giveaway to the unit 's state of affairs , however , is its urine collection system . from each unconscious or helpless patient , a tube runs over the edge of the bed and empties into a liter sized plastic soft_drink bottle hung on a bed rail . an orderly periodically empties the bottles into a bucket . sanitation obsessed western hospitals would be aghast . but jury rigged solutions are the norm here , for good reason . ''we have n't had any new equipment in five years , '' dr . turchev says . wednesday if there is a yin to dr . turchev 's dark yang , it is dr . yelena letvena , a 30 something former professional skier with a parched wit and a burgeoning addiction to l m 's . dr . letvena needed four tries to surmount political and bureaucratic barriers to studying soviet medicine . she was told surgery was not a woman 's work , and she had the last laugh she is now chief of the trauma unit at hospital no . 1 . today , dr . letvena stops by intensive care to see mr . ivanov , who is stubbing out another sovereign . his double chin has shrunk to a chin and a half . she nods approvingly . ''he smokes he drinks he 's o.k . , '' she says . ''if it continues , i 'll bring him up tomorrow . '' ''up'' is the trauma unit 's fifth floor recovery ward , a sunlit park_avenue compared with the bowery of intensive care . there are 65 beds and , today , only 57 patients an infrequent occurrence . a week ago , there were 72 . truth told , 57 is too many . ''there are a lot of patients in russian hospitals who could be treated as outpatients , '' dr . letvena says . ''nobody would ever think of keeping them in hospitals in other places . '' why ? ''nobody 's keeping an eye on it , '' she says . that is an understatement . on one floor , a demented , homeless elderly woman has been a patient for six years . one reason russian health_care is in desperate shape is that the average patient 's stay approaches 17 days , compared with 5 in the united_states . children may commit elderly parents to hospitals because they cannot support them . ordinary people even check in for long stays stays that include free meals , laundry , a bed and lots of companionship . paradise it is not . patients bunk four or six to a room , some so debilitated that they can barely draw sheets over themselves . the ward has but one orderly and , usually , three nurses . soviet planners churned out too many doctors but far too few nurses , an imbalance that has only worsened since 1991 . someone has to bear the added cost . and in part , it is the genuinely ill patients who pay more than in soviet_times or endure more spartan conditions to subsidize roommates . consider room 501 , where lies 41 year old aleksandr lebanov , who fell 30 feet from a moscow parking_garage ''i was drinking wine , '' he says , not a bit sheepishly shattered a thigh and both heels , and has lain in bed four months now . too shorthanded to provide full time care , the ward allows mr . lebanov 's wife , galina , in outside visiting hours . she takes a week off each month from her job in kostroma , the couple 's home 200 miles east of moscow , to care for her husband . she does n't complain . ''if such a thing had happened in kostroma , i do n't believe they would have saved his legs , '' she said . ''it 's not that the doctors there are bad . it 's that their finances are worse . '' by week 's end , mr . lebanov would depart for kostroma , carried prone in his brother 's little lada , a passenger seat removed to accommodate his cast . his recovery will be a long one , thanks to a smoldering infection that settled in shortly after the fall . ''more powerful antibiotics had to be used , '' dr . letvena said , ''but we did n't have them , and there was no way to get them . in the usual situation , we tell the relatives , and they buy them . but this family did not have the ability . '' in room 518 is 30 year old aleksei belov , who ran his motorcycle full speed into an illegally turning car . his broken pelvis is held together with a brace that spans his abdomen like a suspension bridge . it is 2 , 000 worth of second hand steel , bequeathed from patient to patient . on a doctor 's advice , his mother , valentina belova , also scoured local stores for a 130 knee brace and 47 of pain killing injections . ms . belova spent 30 years as a paramedic , most of it in the soviet system , when drugs and equipment were free . one might expect russia 's pay as you go medicine to dismay her . but she says things look different from the patient 's side . ''before , it was different because there were n't many instruments , not many devices or drugs , '' she says . ''now we have much more , but money is the problem . but i like the chance to be able to go into a drug store and buy whenever my son needs . '' which is why , on an ingenious doctor 's advice , she also bought him a 2 . 30 looney tunes beach ball covered with bright_yellow tweety birds . bedridden westerners puff into special breathing devices to exercise their lungs and ward off pneumonia . mr . belov inflates his beach ball , to much the same effect . thursday it is moving day for mr . ivanov , who has shed his chest tube and seems to be melting away . but he looks more shaken than happy the bed next to his is empty . dr . turchev says its occupant , grigory , a 41 year old man with a brain infection , died as doctors were trying to suction fluid from his trachea . ''we did manage to start his heart again , but again it stopped , '' he says . ''and he died . '' grigory had lingered for weeks . dr . maksim strakhov , the young neurologist , suspected that his infection had ripened into a brain abscess , almost certainly beyond help . it was hard , however , to be absolutely sure . many i.c.u . patients arrive with signs of brain_injuries or head trauma that , in a western hospital , would send them immediately to the cat scanner to check for serious brain_injuries . but there is no scanner in this hospital . instead , dr . strakhov decides who needs emergency neurosurgery with his well honed instincts , a reflex hammer and a vintage ultrasound machine . ''it was the last word in technology when i tested it , 24 years ago , '' dr . turchev cracks . it is not just that cat technology is too expensive . the major fault lies in the bizarre municipal health_care planning that allocated a cat scanner to another hospital 40 minutes away , and not to this one , with its constant stream of head injuries . and so hospital no . 1 patients who are stable enough to be driven across town get cat scans . desperately ill patients do not . oleg v . rutkovsky , the chief doctor and a former russian health minister , insists that patients here do exceedingly well . ''we have a 3 percent mortality_rate , '' he said , ' 'despite the fact that the trauma unit takes some very severe cases . '' the 1998 rate for american hospitals was 2.6 percent . ''despite great differences in technology and drugs and insurance systems between your country and ours , patients in russia do get better , '' dr . letvena agreed . ''despite a lack of medicine , nurses and doctors manage to do many things and reach the same results that american doctors do . '' most patients , like mr . ivanov , have uneventful , if uncomfortable stays . but for some of the other 3 percent , the system breaks under the strain . consider svetlana , a dark_haired , nondescript young woman in her 20 's . she was found early thursday in a moscow park . a drug user , if not yet an addict , she is covered with bruises , and her abdomen is swollen with blood . after three and one half hours of surgery on a perforated liver and a ruptured intestine , she lies in intensive care , unconscious and naked except for a brown bedsheet . ''she 's bomzhika , '' oleg klochkov , the night doctor , said , using the word for homeless woman . ''somebody met her in the park and beat her her friends , maybe . her father came and left . he said he was n't surprised , because this was her way of life . '' later , dr . letvena says svetlana lost at least half her blood more than two liters in the beating and the surgery . the real problem is her blood_type b negative , found in barely 1.5 percent of europeans . svetlana could tolerate a transfusion of the slightly more common o negative , were any available . but moscow 's central blood_bank has managed so far to deliver only one unit of either type . she needs four to five . there are 30 other blood banks in moscow that might have b negative blood on hand . but no single inventory unites them . nor is there any quick way to canvass them . ''the amount she received , it was n't enough for her , '' dr . letvena says that night as she sits in her office , taking a smoking break midway through a 36 hour shift . ''and frankly , i 'm not sure how it will end . '' friday outside the i.c.u. , a group of men in white coats are hunched over a table . ''scalpel , '' one barks , and another slaps the flat end of a scalpel into his palm . he lowers the blade onto its intended target and flicks his wrist once , twice , then three times . after enough of this , the screw comes loose , and the surgeon , a_20 ish student from a medical tech school , lifts the cover off a broken soviet_era vacuum pump . there lies the diseased organ a worn out washer . dr . turchev cuts a new one from a piece of hose the students embark on a transplant . that pump was saved . two days later , the same determined band was operating on the spent circuitry of another . it is unclear how much a collapsing health_care system contributed to russia 's soaring death rate during the 1990 's . demographers and experts like mr . oganov , the preventive_medicine expert , say not much those dying young in russia alcoholics , victims of heart attacks , homicides needed help long before they reached an emergency room . others like mr . davis , the oxford economist , dispute that . and in fact , scattered data suggests that some indicators of health_care , like the percentage of cancer patients who die within a year of diagnosis , have worsened since the soviet demise . ''if you cut health_care funding , '' he said , ''and then introduce all these reforms that are n't implemented , i 'd say the impact could be substantial . '' in the intensive_care_unit this morning , svetlana 's bed is empty . ''she died at 3 a.m . , '' dr . turchev says . ''at 3 30 , they brought some blood for her . '' he minces no words as to the cause of death . ''very simple because of inadequate treatment , '' he says . ''because if a patient loses more than two liters of blood , at least you have to put one liter back in , not just one unit . '' ''unfortunately , '' he adds , ''this is a normal practice . '' the blood that arrived too late a single unit probably would have been too little to save svetlana 's life . a decade ago , dr . turchev says , such a tragedy would probably not have happened at all . in room 502 of the trauma unit , mr . ivanov 's wife , tatiana , arrives at his bedside with a plastic grocery bag full stuffed with pain killers and other emollients bifidobakterine , 3 . 10 bificolum siccum , 1 . 25 ketanov , 5 . 75 ctadol , 8 . 35 tsefakina , 10 . 90 , and more . ''when i 'm free from here , '' mr . ivanov says , ''i 'll go to the church and light a candle . because god saved me . '' freedom 's toll the first article in this series examined the reasons for the precipitous_decline in life_expectancy in russia since the collapse of the soviet_union nearly a decade ago . later articles will examine the rise in infectious_diseases , the health of women and the prospects for improving the health of the russian people . articles in this series and related coverage are available at the new york times on the web www . nytimes . com

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nolan kerschner , a norwalk developer who has built more than 3 , 000 houses and condominium units in connecticut since 1947 , is now completing site work on his 528 unit rosinka development in suburban moscow . the project , begun feb . 6 , is designed for foreign corporate executives . foundations for the first 44 units are to be installed this month . the complex four villages each with 132 units is scheduled for completion in the fall of 1992 . mr . kerschner is among just a few americans whose attempts to build housing in the soviet_union are moving forward . he decided to change venues radically four years ago " when we saw that the 80 's were not going to be so swift , " he said . while his publicly subsidized complex of 39 condomimium units in norwalk sold out last july at 65 , 000 to 85 , 000 , his market rate projects faltered . only 200 of a planned 300 units were built at farmington woods and only 15 units were sold of the 25 completed in the proposed 680 unit stillwater complex in torrington . his 176 unit four beaches in east haven was one of the first connecticut developments to be sold at auction last year . " we did a market study in 1987 and got an overwhelming response from international companies citing a need for housing in russia , " said mr . kerschner . at a 1989 moscow business exposition , he went on , " we signed up about 30 companies on nonbinding reservations . general_motors , caterpillar tractor , dupont all said they wanted low rise , family oriented housing . " last april , senie kerschner international housing of westport , formed by mr . kerschner , his lawyer , alan senie , and mr . senie 's son , christopher , entered into a joint_venture agreement with zavet ilicha , an 800 member farm collective that grows vegetables for moscow stores . the collective donated 80 of its 2 , 500 acres for the project in return for a 50 percent share of its profits , which christopher senie said , " could come to about 40 million in the 6th through 10th years , when we are debt free . " situated 15 . 5 miles from red_square in the krasnogorsk ( " beautiful hills " ) district , the site overlooks a 35 acre lake surrounded by birch forests and farmlands . zane yost , a bridgeport architect , is the designer of the 160 million community , and it will be built by the astaldi construction company of rome , with about 100 jobs reserved for russians . concerned but not deterred by the unstable political climate within the soviet_union , mr . kerschner said " barring a total apocalypse , international companies believe that perestroika will be up and down , but will continue . russia is an enormous market of 290 million people who need everything . " " financing is the barrier , " mr . senie said . " most of it comes from europe , but we are putting out feelers in moscow because of the reluctance of western lenders . " senie kerschner has invested 2 . 1 million in promotional costs , and it has sold 1 percent of its shares to a quasi_governmental soviet agency for 600 , 000 . mr . senie declined to identify the agency because of ongoing negotiations to buy an additional 18 percent at the same rate by may 1 , when leases for 15 units held by various companies expire . there is enough money to do foundations and bring in utilities while negotiations continue for financing construction of the first 44 units scheduled to open this fall . the milan office of an american bank , which mr . senie declined to name , will lend 5 . 8 million provided the partnership produces equity of 7 . 8 million . " we have 6 million in letters of creditfrom companies that signed leases , " he said , citing johnson_johnson , dupont , and ralston_purina in the united_states , ciba geigy in switzerland , oyhuolintakeskuas shipping company in finland and phillips electronics in the netherlands , among others . thomas chizmadia , a spokesman for ciba geigy in ardsley , n.y. , said " we can confirm an interest in one unit , but we are not aware of a signed lease . " mr . senie responded that " he did not talk to the right people at the swiss headquarters . " leases are for six years at 40 , 000 to 80 , 000 a year . three years are to be paid in advance , triggering immediate income for the next cluster of units . common charges are estimated at 300 a month . twenty percent of the units will be reserved for ruble paying soviets , the rest will be leased to hard_currency tenants from abroad . units will vary from two bedroom , one bath flats of 1 , 200 square_feet to five bedroom town houses of 2 , 700 square_feet with three baths and a den . among the amenities are fully equipped kitchens , tile baths , balconies , walk in closets , an indoor_pool , day care center , tennis courts , supermarket , telecommunications center , interior decorating and bus service . leslie beach , president of design and construction technologies of south plainfield , n.j. , feels that " suburban activity will not be effective in russia because of the high cost of creating an infrastructure to support it . " his soviet american turkish venture called interstroy is working in the center of moscow on 10 story apartment buildings and reconstructing them as 1 , 000 to 1 , 500 square_foot , two and three bedroom flats for the business community . " rehabs are the most cost effective thing to do , " he said . in matters of financing , he is as secretive as mr . senie . " we raised the money in the united_states through a combination of banks and other lenders , " he said . " we are not about to give away our sources . " " arrangements like rosinka are going to be few and far between and have a very difficult path to completion , " said leonard sylk , president of shelter systems , prefabricated housing manufacturers in hainesport , n.j . after accompanying secretary of commerce robert a . mosbacher to moscow last september as an adviser on creating housing , he said " i came away discouraged . political factions at different levels of government are so suspicious and envious of each other that they stymie development , creating a feeling of insecurity among investors . " " the potential for housing in the soviet_union is great , " he observed , " but they need to work out their internal problems . in meantime , thank god for pioneers . "

has a location of russia

an army colonel who admitted strangling an 18 year old chechen woman two years ago suffered from shell shock and shrapnel_wounds to the head and was insane at the time of the crime , military psychiatrists concluded . the ruling , disclosed by prosecutors , probably means that col . yuri budanov will be freed from custody and given court ordered medical treatment , officials said . colonel budanov has said he suspected that the woman , whom he seized from her father 's home , was a sniper and that he has no memory of the killing . michael wines ( nyt )

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defying the president they helped bring to power five years ago , nearly half a million russian coal miners went on strike today to demand 200 million in unpaid wages . so did one million coal miners in ukraine , who say they are owed 367 million in back pay . the russian strike , joined by about half the country 's miners , carried particular political resonance , signifying far more than an economic setback for the government of president boris n . yeltsin . in 1989 , the soviet coal miners' wildcat strike signaled the decline of mikhail s . gorbachev . another major strike in 1991 , which mr . yeltsin championed , helped topple mr . gorbachev and sweep his rival into the kremlin . as miners in the coal rich donets basin in ukraine stopped working to protest the wage halts and subsidy cuts of their free_market minded government , 250 , 000 russian teachers , who were also part of mr . yeltsin 's original base , stayed away from schoolrooms for the second day in a row . unlike the strike in 1989 , when miners demanded more consumer goods , this strike was over unpaid wages , one of the most widely shared grievances of russian voters and most politically sensitive issues of the presidential campaign . mr . yeltsin is expected to run for re election in june , and the strike is likely to play into the hands of his strongest opponents , the communists . the workers are also demanding that the government pay overdue subsidies to the mines . but much of the mines' money is owed not by the government , but by ailing industries that cannot pay for the coal they consume . as he celebrated his 65th birthday today , mr . yeltsin said nothing about the revolt of what had once been his most loyal constituency . he had tried to head off the strike last week by signing a decree offering the coal miners 127 million in back wages , about half of what union officials say the miners are owed . saying today that they had yet to see any of the promised money , the coal miners unions went ahead with the strike . in the icy arctic city of vorkuta , 5 , 000 miners , teachers , railway workers and doctors gathered at a rally in the main square . some held up signs reading , " where is our money ? " others demanded the resignation of prime_minister viktor s . chernomyrdin . mr . yeltsin 's chief economic adviser , aleksandr y . livshits , said tonight that the president had ordered his government to draw up a " tough , monthly schedule " to pay the miners . the russian independent_television_network ntv reported tonight that close to 75 percent of the country 's coal concerns had joined the strike . it was not clear what the miners' plans were for prolonging the strike . there was as much anxiety as there was defiance among striking miners today . " we have nothing to do , we have nothing to live on , " a miner from the closed down gryzlovskaya mine in the region of tula told a russian television_crew today . he said he would have to borrow money from his mother 's pension check to buy bread . although coal miners are less essential to the russian economy than they were five years ago , they are still vital to many russian industries and provide the heat for 60 percent of russian homes . once the symbol of mighty socialist labor , coal miners are now emblematic of russia 's steep industrial decline and a harbinger of public discontent . if the strike is long , it will not only further damage russia 's ailing industrial economy , it could also have grave consequences for mr . yeltsin 's political survival . the coal miners have long been restive . in a brief , nationwide strike one year ago , 215 of russia 's 235 mines closed in a culmination of protests that began in rostov , where miners and their families live in miserable conditions , often with no heat or running water . the government had long dreaded today 's strike , and sought to avert it with promises of payment it can ill afford to keep . " the consequences of the strike could be very grave , because we are in the middle of winter , and coal is vital to our energy plans , " mikhail g . delyagin , an economist in the presidential analytical center , said last week . miners are better paid than most russian workers , earning up to 500 a month in a country where the average wage is 125 . but prices are high in cities like vorkuta . a loaf of bread costs a dollar , and vodka is twice as expensive there than in moscow . working conditions remain as ghastly as they were in the 1950 's . and the jobs are disappearing . the world_bank recently issued a study that concluded that the state of the russian coal mining industry is " catastrophic " and that huge subsidies equivalent to 1.2 percent of the gross_domestic_product are needed to keep it alive . but such subsidies are counterproductive , maintaining excessive production levels that undermine the profitability of russia 's low cost mines . the world_bank estimated that only two thirds of russia 's coal industry , which has been only partly privatized , is viable , meaning that more than half of russia 's 900 , 000 miners may have to lose their jobs . in the harsh and remote pechora basin which includes vorkuta , where the most determined strikers were the world_bank calculated that the number of pits should be cut from 18 to fewer than 7 . the number of miners , it said , should fall from 70 , 400 to between 21 , 000 and 32 , 000 . the social consequences of such closures would be heightened by the role russian mines have traditionally played as the main providers of social_welfare benefits like housing and medical care in their communities . the situation is even more dire in neighboring ukraine , with close to million of the country 's 1.2 million miners on strike . they are clamoring for soviet_era subsidies that the government cannot begin to afford . an extended strike could cripple the country 's struggling industries . in moscow , union leaders talked tough . " we 'll make them respect us and teach them a lesson , " said ivan mokhnachuk , deputy head of the union of coal industry workers . " they 'll have to hear us sooner next time . " but in the areas where the strikers are milling about in icy temperatures , there was less bravado . " the miners' demands are fair , " said mikhail kislyuk , head of the kemerovo region administration in southern siberia . " but it 's painful because i know how difficult it was before the strike , and it may become even worse after it . "

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moscow_state_university , one of russia 's most prestigious , has opened an investigation into accusations by students that teaching standards and living conditions in one of its academic departments have been severely eroded , students and university officials said in recent days . the investigation , into the conditions in the sociology department , will be conducted by a commission of faculty_members and administrators that was formed last week . it follows a rare and remarkable burst of defiance and student activism on a russian campus , a case of grass roots organization and civic activity that private groups and critics of the kremlin have said has been in decline in recent years . the accusations , many of them circulated to western universities by a small group of students in an effort to gain support , also strongly suggested that official anti western attitudes and creeping nationalism were undermining the quality of the teaching . the students said , for example , that extremist views had become institutionalized and that conspiracy_theories had infiltrated the teaching . ''the dean 's office has distributed a brochure to all students that approvingly quotes the 'protocols of the elders of zion , ' blames freemasons and zionists for the world wars , and claims that they control u.s . and british policy and the global financial system , '' the students wrote in one of their public appeals . ''studying conditions at the department are unbearable . '' vladimir i . dobrenkov , the dean of the sociology department , dismissed the complaints about the curriculum in a telephone interview , saying that the student claims ''are full of hints , rumors and half truths'' and that no anti_semitism has been taught or tolerated on campus . he conceded only that the living conditions were poor and said that they would be improved . students have said that ventilation is inadequate and that their cafeteria has been outrageously overpriced a suggestion of profiteering . ''we should have a constructive dialogue with the students , '' the dean said . mr . dobrenkov also said that the complaining students represented a small fraction of his department 's 2 , 000 member student body and that their influence was exaggerated . on this point the students disagreed , saying they had a nucleus of more than 20 core members and had signatures of support of nearly 10 percent of the department 's student body a remarkable number , they said , given a climate of surveillance and worries of retaliation . russian universities are typically highly centralized . the students said they worried about possible expulsion for their defiance , but felt compelled to act after several years of decline of their curriculum . ''the quality of the education has become so low that it has become terrible , '' said one of the students , who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation by staff members . ''for the last two years all of my education has had to be self education . ''

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as women walked with bouquets of flowers , gifts from the men in their lives on this women 's day , a small group of friends here in russia 's northern industrial and cultural center were celebrating in a different way . two were sitting in a smoke filled art scene cafe watching the film ''i shot andy_warhol , '' about the radical american feminist valerie solanis . another was home with her children . still another was painting banners for a demonstration to remind residents what the russian observance of international women 's day a national holiday here since soviet_times is really about . ''it 's a fake holiday , '' said olga lipovskaya , 49 , chairwoman of the st . petersburg center for gender issues . ''all these flowers , they are false offerings of affection . i do n't want a tulip . i would rather have rights , power and money . '' while for most in russia , women 's day is a a time for flowers , perfume and boxes of candy , for these st . petersburg intellectuals , it is a time to reflect about what it means to be a woman in this society . only one of the four friends would call herself a feminist . but they find a certain sisterhood with each other and live in ways that even the most emancipated western women might find intimidatingly liberated . for st . petersburg , women 's day has a particularly meaningful past . many historians argue that it was the women of st . petersburg , who celebrated the day in 1917 with a demonstration ''for bread and peace , '' who touched off the overthrow of the czar . soon thereafter , russian women were among the first in the world to receive the right to vote , in part as a result of efforts by radical russian feminists like aleksandra kollontai . women 's day ''is a holiday to celebrate the absolutely wonderful radicalism of the 1920 's , '' said alla mitrofanova , one of the four friends , who helped russian women learn about the internet in the early 1990 's . the soviets imposed egalitarianism from above . a quota system ensured that women occupied a certain number of government posts . women studied at universities alongside men . cafeterias , laundries and day care centers opened in cities to ease women 's burden at home . in today 's russia , however , the quota system has been eliminated and women have all but disappeared from top government posts . the privatization of state assets after the dissolution of the soviet_union in 1991 overwhelmingly benefited men . at the same time , women , who for years had worked in factories and on construction sites , took pleasure in abandoning such toil for the life of a homemaker . ms . mitrofanova , 43 , made such a choice . despite her nontraditional approach to motherhood she chose a father for her children by asking various male friends she decided to become a stay at home mother for her two sons . she deplores the fact that women 's work in the home is not valued and talks wistfully of the social_services , like free day care , secured by feminists during the early soviet_era , but now in decline . ''women will never win in the fight within the establishment for power , '' she said , in her disheveled kitchen in central st . petersburg . ''why should i try when i can achieve so much more at home ? '' in russia_today , feminism , and activism more generally , is regarded with suspicion . russians , cynical from the economic chaos of the past decade and the force fed politics of soviet_times , scorn activism as pathetically na_ve . besides , the problems of other social groups , like migrants from the caucasus who face tremendous prejudice in russia , are much more serious , the women in this circle said . even so , ms . lipovskaya and her helpers were painting signs on friday for today 's demonstration . a self described former hippie , who worked in low paying cleaning and doorman jobs in soviet_times , she is one of the very few advocates of political protest . in 1992 , a year after the demise of the soviet_union , she founded the gender center . ''feminism in russia is associated with primitive stereotypes , '' she said in her sun drenched office , which is based in a worn but stately st . petersburg apartment . ''feminists are either lesbians , ugly women who could n't get a man , or crazy . no one here understands it 's a huge field , not just activism . '' ms . lipovskaya asserts that women have lost out in the last decade during russia 's transition to capitalism . even so , when men and women found themselves adrift in the free for all that followed communism 's collapse , suddenly facing the loss of jobs and identities , it was women who proved more adaptive , landing jobs in the service industry and in small businesses , while men groped for jobs with similar status . ''the situation for women compared with soviet_times got worse , '' she said . ''most women 's organizations are self_help centers . but these problems need to be resolved in politics . '' despite the sharp decline in political representation , which many argue was in any case only for show and did not give women any real power , women seem to have done better than men in the economic transition . while life expectancies for men fell four years , to 59 years from 63 , in the decade ending in 2001 , women 's life spans fell by only two , to 72 . alcoholism was largely responsible for men 's catastrophic decline . another member of this group of friends , roza khatskelevich , provides a model for other women through the sheer force of her professional success . ms . khatskelevich , an administrator in an arts academy in soviet_times , runs a large resource center for nongovernmental_organizations that she founded in 1992 . she shies from the feminist label , though , saying it puts her in a box . ''i have no political platforms , '' she said . ''i do n't like the system of rules the word 'feminist' implies . '' even so , she has reared her son as a single mother , while providing leadership to her mostly female staff , and , by all accounts , she has lived the life of an empowered woman . russian women do not identify with western models of feminism , she said , because , quite simply , they do not feel discriminated against . that could be changing , as younger women come of age . irina aktuganova , director of the cyber femin club , a group that helps women use the internet , and the small cafe where the film was showing , said universities were starting to create gender studies departments . younger women , who remember little of the soviet_union , no longer think of the gender studies as something alien . in addition , women are beginning to enter local_governments , although in the lowest positions . the st . petersburg league_of_women_voters , affiliated with the american group , says 43 percent of local administrators are women , up from 32 percent in 1998 . women 's rights were not appreciated in soviet_times because they were imposed by decree and never fought for , said ms . aktuganova , adding , ''young women do n't fear the word feminism . '' that is true for elena gres , 20 , a third year student at the nevsky institute of language and culture , a new private college . ms . gres , from a siberian oil town , has discussed gender issues in class , something that got her thinking about women 's political representation . ''i thought a feminist was someone who poured her own wine and opened doors for herself , '' said ms . gres , in a st . petersburg cafe . ''a woman should be able to bring her understanding of the world to politics . that seemed to me very right . the exclusion of women is just unhealthy . ''

has a location of russia

in certain diplomatic circles outside russia_today , not to mention entire whorls of political gossip within the country , there was but one question about president vladimir v . putin 's stop on monday in brussels did he really say that ? indeed he did . nor , despite foot shuffling and hurried excuses from kremlin aides , was there much evidence that he would take it back . mr . putin , whose usually inscrutable demeanor befits his old career as a soviet_intelligence agent , blew his customary cool monday over the one issue that seems to have taken residence under his skin chechnya . it came at a news conference after a brussels summit meeting with european_union leaders , when a reporter for le_monde asked whether the russian military 's use of land_mines in chechnya was killing innocent_civilians as well as islamic terrorists . bristling , mr . putin replied that islamic radicals wanted to wrest chechnya from russia as part of a worldwide plan to kill americans and their allies . ''if you are a christian , you are in danger , '' mr . putin said . ''if you decide to become a muslim , this wo n't save you either , because they think that traditional islam is also hostile to their goals . '' then he said this ''if you are determined to become a complete islamic radical and are ready to undergo circumcision , then i invite you to moscow . we are multi confessional . we have experts in this sphere as well . i will recommend to conduct the operation so that nothing on you will grow again . '' in the long silence that followed , even translators were at a loss for words . the last crucial sentence of his remarks was never rendered outside the original russian for the diplomats and journalists in attendance . notably , it did not appear today on the kremlin 's official web_site , which carried an otherwise complete text of the news conference . kremlin aides later explained that mr . putin was both exhausted and , as one put it , ' 'sick and tired of chechnya . '' he has good reason three years after starting a war there to crush islamic radicals' invasion of a neighboring russian_republic , not only have hopes for a quick military triumph evaporated , but atrocities appear on the rise . chechnya has long been a transforming topic for mr . putin . it is the one issue that has repeatedly turned him from the articulate and persuasive euro russian who is welcome at any table of global leaders into something closer to nikita khrushchev another forward thinking leader for his time , but one who made a famous point with his shoe . it was mr . putin who , after still unsolved bombings of moscow apartment houses in september 1999 , drove home his enmity toward chechen guerrillas with the blunt threat ''if we catch them in the toilet , we will rub them out in the outhouse . '' many saw his use of crude slang for the word ''outhouse'' then as inspired political positioning , the creation of a tough guy image for a nebbish with his eye on a presidential campaign . mr . putin later startled westerners by shrugging after his own army handed over a radio_liberty journalist to chechen guerrillas , ostensibly in exchange for captured russian soldiers . mr . putin called the journalist , who had questioned russian policy in the caucasus , a traitor . mr . putin raised eyebrows again in mid 2001 when a london journalist 's question about the russian army 's human_rights record in chechnya produced a visibly angry lecture about human_rights abuses by guerrillas that he suggested the foreign press had ignored . the russian_president has had so many such moments , both publicly and in private sessions with both russian and american officials , that chechnya 's impact on him has become an article of faith among putin watchers , both friendly and critical . boris nemtsov , a former deputy prime_minister and now the leader of a liberal faction in russia 's lower_house of parliament , has discussed chechnya many times in the kremlin . ''this is not news for me , '' he said today of mr . putin 's blunt remarks in brussels . mr . nemtsov suggested that mr . putin was engaged in a show of bravado speaking baldly and angrily about chechnya because his military_strategy is failing and his options are running out . ''he 's obsessed with chechnya . he has been from the beginning , '' said alexander rahr , a leading german foreign_policy scholar and putin acquaintance . why is a mystery , he said , but judging from conversations , mr . putin 's bleak memories of the successive collapses of east_germany , the soviet_union and the k.g.b . he long served have left him deeply committed to preventing any further disintegration of russia . mr . rahr says he believes mr . putin is struggling for a way to reach a just peace in the region , but that he sees any power sharing agreement with separatist forces as the road to just such disintegration . ''it 's put him in such a state of alert that he behaves like we see him now , '' mr . rahr said . ''this is an aspect where he will never make any compromise . '' whatever the reason , the contrast between the livid , salty mr . putin and the western style statesman was never so evident as on monday , when both personalities were on view at a meeting expressly aimed at drawing russia more closely into the european fold . european human_rights monitors have been the most persistent critics of russia 's conduct of the war in chechnya , and european leaders have been among those who have urged mr . putin most strongly to rein in his army 's excesses and seek a peaceful settlement .

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the death of an exchange student from connecticut , whose body was found in moscow last week outside his university dormitory , remained a mystery yesterday , with the russian police calling it a suicide and a coroner 's report using the word murder . the body of anthony riccio , 21 , of glastonbury , conn . , was found on the ground tuesday evening outside the russian state humanities university . mr . riccio , a junior at brown_university majoring in russian studies , had arrived in moscow on sept . 10 for a one year exchange program sponsored by middlebury college in vermont . at first , the russian police said mr . riccio was found with a broken rope around his neck and the rest of the rope attached to the balcony of his room on the 16th floor . later , they said there had been no rope . but on friday , according to the associated press , they again reported that there had been a rope . " i 'm convinced this was a suicide , " said vyacheslav filippov , chief of the 136th precinct in moscow . " he had good relations with other students . there was no reason why anyone should want to kill him . " chief filippov said no suicide_note had been found . yesterday , a spokesman for the united_states embassy , michael mcclellan , said that a report by the moscow coroner 's office had classified the death as a murder . a statement from the embassy said that " on the summary autopsy report the coroner underlined the word 'murder' to describe the death . " in connecticut , mr . riccio 's father , john , said the possibility of suicide " just seems incongruous to us it does n't fit a pattern for us . " he said he and his wife , lenore , had last spoken to their son on monday . " his only disappointing remark was during orientation , they were speaking too much english , " the father said . " there are a lot of open questions , " he added . zachary grinspan , 20 , a junior at yale_university who called himself anthony riccio 's best friend , said that going to russia had been a longtime dream of anthony 's . he described his friend as self confident and " a total extrovert . " the statement from the united_states embassy said that the moscow prosecutor 's office had 10 days to decide whether to conduct a criminal investigation .

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the " myocardial_ischemia " that sent president boris n . yeltsin to the hospital yesterday for the second time in three months is a common , serious heart condition that affects millions of people around the world . myocardial_ischemia describes a lack of oxygen rich blood to meet the heart 's needs to pump blood . such ischemia usually produces the chest_pains of angina , although aides to mr . yeltsin , who is 64 , did not use the word angina . ischemia ( pronounced iss kee mee ya ) can occur anywhere in the body . it is described by its anatomical location , and examples include abdominal ischemia or the transient ischemic attack that can signal a stroke . aides said mr . yeltsin 's ischemia was caused by heart_disease . but the information that russian officials released yesterday about mr . yeltsin 's diagnosis and condition was skimpy , as it was in the four weeks this summer when the president was treated for myocardial_ischemia . until his doctors provide " a final diagnosis , " expected today , doctors in the united_states said the details were too sketchy to assess the seriousness of his condition and the treatment options . among such options are drugs to relieve pain or to reduce the risk of blood_clots , coronary_bypass surgery , and more minimally invasive procedures like angioplasty , a procedure in which a balloon tipped tube is threaded through an artery in the groin or arm to remove the blockage . a puzzle in the information provided so far was a statement from mr . yeltsin 's closest aide , viktor v . ilyushin , who said , " an operation is out of the question . " the statement left unsaid whether the reason is that mr . yeltsin 's heart condition is not amenable to surgical treatment , that he has another medical condition that precludes major surgery , or that political considerations are at work . myocardial_ischemia is generally serious because it usually indicates blockage in one or more of the coronary_arteries that nourish the heart . the blockage is generally due to a buildup of fat deposits from a process known as atherosclerosis . atherosclerosis is believed to be the underlying cause of heart attacks , and it can lead to abnormal heart rhythms and sudden death . russian officials did not say mr . yeltsin had suffered a heart_attack , or a myocardial infarct . sometimes doctors must wait a day or two to monitor electrocardiograms and blood tests to determine whether a patient has had a heart_attack . mr . yeltsin is at risk for a heart_attack because he is overweight , eats a rich diet and gets little exercise . in april , a spokesman said he had high_blood_pressure , which , if untreated , can also increase the risk of a heart_attack . before treating myocardial_ischemia , patients in american hospitals often undergo an x_ray procedure known as a coronary angiogram , or arteriogram , in which a radio opaque chemical is injected into a blood_vessel in the groin or arm and flows to the heart to outline the contour of the coronary_arteries . if the damage is limited to a certain area , a patient might undergo an angioplasty , which can relieve angina pain . but the blockage returns in about one third of patients . myocardial_ischemia can change in severity . when it does , it is called unstable angina , and may require a change in therapy . among the many possible explanations for mr . yeltsin 's latest attack of ischemia is a failed angioplasty , if he had one last summer during the previous attack . myocardial_ischemia can also result from spasms of a coronary_artery that is unaffected by atherosclerosis . but spasm is a much less common cause of ischemia than atherosclerosis . among the many other causes are congenital defects . in his autobiography , " against the grain , " mr . yeltsin said that as a youth he had collapsed with a heart_rate of 150 when he exerted himself while suffering from tonsillitis . doctors prescribed at least four months of bed rest . he said he had rejected the advice , made a rope from sheets and escaped from the hospital . his doctor later told him his heart was in excellent shape .

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so much for the mea culpas . the two accident prone astronauts who just ended six disastrous months on the space_station mir used their first public appearance today to denounce everyone from president boris n . yeltsin to individual members of the press who has dwelled so publicly on the mission 's many failures . in a news conference that was a tour de force of recrimination , the astronauts , vasily_tsibliyev and aleksandr lazutkin , lashed out at those who spread ''rumors , gossip , and lies'' and said the worst of the spacecraft 's problems were to be found on earth . ''it has always been a tradition here in russia to look for a scapegoat , '' said mr . tsibliyev , the visibly troubled commander whose words today promise to open a new phase in the summer 's only genuine galactic soap_opera . ''of course it is always easier to put all the blame on the crew . but in this case that 's not fair . '' the criticism of the crew whose time in space was marked by the worst collision in the station 's 11 year history , several major systems failures and the accidental disconnection of a cable essential to guide the 120 ton spacecraft reached a climax this week when mr . yeltsin said the problems on board were not technical but due to ''human_error . '' senior officials of the russian space agency have voiced similar sentiments and the russian press , often tame when dealing with the nation 's most revered institutions , has been merciless . ''how and why fortune declared war on this crew is unclear , '' an article in komsomolskaya pravda noted on friday . ''but even confirmed materialists have started shouting , 'something spooky 's going on here . ' '' mr . tsibliyev , speaking here today north of moscow at what was once the secret training site of all russian astronauts , singled out that ironic and belittling story as particularly offensive to him . he said more than once that he was lucky to be on earth although at times he looked as if he would be grateful to leave it again at the next available opportunity . and he stressed that , according to the rules , ''we should have abandoned the station three separate times but we never thought about jumping ship . not once . '' the three incidents he referred to were a fire in february caused by an oxygen producing candle of the type they are now using on the station , the loss of pressure after the collision in june and the accident last month when one of the astronauts , usually presumed to be mr . tsibliyev , disconnected the power cable . that last event caused vladimir solovyov , the mission director , to bark out what will surely become one of space travel 's most infamous phrases , ''this is a kindergarten . '' asked today who was responsible for that last error , mr . lazutkin , responded quickly , ''if i tell you will you leave ? '' realizing the answer might be yes , he circled back , saying that the two would have to speak to doctors and psychologists and that a commission would decide who , if anyone , caused the errors . the astronauts acknowledged that their shift in space was troubled from start to finish . their initial approach to the station in the soyuz space capsule was marred by a docking failure that forced the commander to recover manually . and their re entry was flawed too , by brake engines , designed to cushion hard landings , that never fired properly . in the six months between those events the mission seemed to look more each day like the voyage of the damned . mr . tsibliyev , 43 , wearing a red , white and blue track suit with the word ''rossiya'' written on the back , was patient but firm in his statements here today . he felt it necessary to remind people of a glaring truth the mir is an 11 year old , jury rigged flying tool kit that was originally supposed to last five years . it has suffered through 1 , 500 malfunctions during its time in space and even minor problems there can become scary very quickly . ''on earth if you ca n't get rid of your waste it 's a simple problem of plumbing , '' he said , referring to one of the less public but more annoying of the crew 's recent inconveniences . ''for us we have to worry how we are going to survive . '' but most people who have become preoccupied with the station 's problems are mostly interested in questions of blame . and for them mr . tsibliyev had a direct response . ''it all comes from earth , '' he said , referring to the problems on the station . ''from our economy , our affairs , our poor lives . even the equipment needed to live aboard the station that we requested to be sent and we 're not talking about coffee , tea and milk for us it just does n't exist on earth . simply , the factories do n't work , or have insufficient supplies , or the prices they want are too high for us to afford . it can be crazy . '' mr . tsibliyev , in the space_station , was manually docking the supply ship on june 25 when the station 's worst accident occurred . flight engineers at mission control have already said that they could find no fault with any of the computer equipment needed for that procedure . but mr . tsibliyev disagreed , saying that one of the central monitors he needed to guide the ship safely into port was not functioning properly . ''the truth is , '' he continued , ''that many things we need on the station just are n't there . it 's not because it 's a bad station . day in and day out we are doing everything we can . it is hard to understand the attempts that were made to accuse us . people said i complained about my health . it was n't a complaint it was a real problem . you ca n't give orders to your heart . '' shortly after the accident between mir and the supply ship , mission doctors discovered that he was suffering from stress induced heart problems . this coming week , the new crew on mir will undertake a highly risky but essential repair walk to reconnect the power in the module that was punctured in the accident . most experts believe that if they fail , the space_station will be doomed , and so will the reputations of those who were on it when the accident occurred . but the astronauts do have some strong defenders within the space agency and in society at_large . ''we will not let a crew that acted highly professionally and courageously be blamed for technical mistakes during the investigation of the incidents that took place in space , '' the russian_air_force chief of staff , pyotr deinekin , said at a news conference on friday . he said a special commission that will ''investigate what unfortunately happened will dot all the i 's . '' ''however , it is no more permissible on the ground than in space to make impromptu decisions to test insane ideas born on the spot during a space mission , '' he said , referring to what seems to be the improvisational and frequently changing repair plans . ''one should deal with the managers who controlled the processes in space , not with a cosmonaut who duly performed his duties . '' although the two crew members looked pale both they and their doctors today said they were fine . ''this was my second trip to the mir and i judge it a success because i am alive and healthy , '' mr . tsibliyev said , adding ruefully ''perhaps many people wanted us to return as corpses . thank god we did not . ''

has a location of russia

valery yermokov 's heart stopped beating as soon as he finished the quart of homemade vodka . a drug addict who could not possibly afford heroin , he had also injected a coarser opiate into his veins . by the time they wheeled him into the semashko emergency hospital in this central russian city , mr . yermokov was all but dead he was breathing once a minute and his skin was cold . the doctors took a look at him and simply shook their heads . but after a few minutes and a last hope shot of adrenaline mr . yermokov opened his wide green eyes and clawed his way back to life . " this time he made it , " said valentina m . lyukovikova , 55 , the chief doctor on duty in the hospital poison unit that night . " next time he wo n't . you can only save people from themselves for a little while . and in russia that 's not very long . " it would be tempting to conclude that dr . lyukovikova is a cold woman she is quite the opposite . yet working as a doctor in russia_today could turn hippocrates 's heart to stone . the death rates have never been higher in peacetime . curable infectious_diseases like diphtheria and measles have reached epidemic levels unseen since the fall of the czars , and rates of tuberculosis , cancer and heart_disease are higher than in any other industrialized country . it is hard to describe the health of the russian people today without resorting to lists of despair only one child in five is born healthy , according to official statistics , which many experts say understate the problem . since 1992 the average life_expectancy for men has fallen from 62 years to 59 and is still falling as it is for women , though more slowly . the death rate has risen by 20 percent , an increase with no modern precedent . in st . petersburg , the country 's most majestic and sophisticated city , life_expectancy is even lower than the national average . " we do n't have the medicine , equipment , training or money to deal with any of this , " said dr . lyukovikova , leaning in the dusty , poorly lit corridor of this hospital against a cot that 10 minutes earlier had contained the body of a 32 year old woman who had just died of alcohol poisoning . the case was like many others in tula , a city with more than 600 , 000 residents , which in most ways is a perfect demographic slice of today 's russia . " it was never paradise . it was never what they said it should be . but i keep telling myself it ca n't get any worse . and i am always wrong . " almost half of the 1990 medical_school graduating_class doctors who are practicing throughout russia_today could not even read an electrocardiogram on the day they got their diplomas , according to the russian academy of sciences . on average , in part because many are women and in part because the medical profession has never had much prestige here , doctors earn less money each month than drivers or baby_sitters about 145 . the united_states devotes more than 12 percent of its federal budget to health . in britain the figure is 6 percent . russia has budgeted slightly less than 1 percent this year , about the same as the poorest african nations . last summer , the russian health ministry said that half of the country 's 21 , 000 hospitals had no hot water , a quarter had no sewage systems , and several thousand had no water at all . " so you have to ask yourself , what is a hospital and what is a doctor , " said murray feschbach , a demographer at georgetown_university who has monitored the health of the russian population for decades . " can you just hang a sign on any building in russia and call it a hospital ? is being treated by a doctor any different than not being treated at all ? the statistics are all so depressing it becomes impossible to even mention where this will all end up . " diagnosis a system crippled by inefficiencies the despair is unavoidable . here in tula , about 100 miles south of moscow , a special deputy health commissioner does nothing but monitor and attempt to counteract the insidious effects of radiation from the chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 . most of the region is still polluted by the fallout . there is a waiting list to get into a decrepit tuberculosis sanitarium that has neither heat nor hot water . even the finest hospitals rely on rusty hot plates and ancient pots to sterilize instruments in the operating room . although drugs are available , they cost far more than the city , the doctors or almost any patient could afford . in tula , as in russia as a whole , a third of the population is older than 60 . the birth_rate has never been lower . and , as in most russian cities , the hospital system is like the factory system cumbersome , inefficient and tooled for a world that no longer exists . there are far too many doctors ( 5 , 000 ) and hospital beds ( 25 , 000 ) and far too few nurses ( 8 , 500 ) in tula to serve the population effectively . " the russian health_care system is essentially set up backwards , " said dr . thomas l . hall , an expert in hospital management and economics from the university of california at san_francisco , who has been advising the government here for the world_health_organization . " they have thousands of gigantic institutions that serve very few people . money is scarce but it gets wasted on doctors who do n't know what they are doing . people spend too much time in the hospital . there is almost no health prevention , and no economic_planning . " in the united_states today the average hospital stay is five days . in russia , which has far fewer resources for health_care , it is 23 days . the number of hospital beds per 1 , 000 people , considered one of the truest measures of cost efficiency , is twice as high here as in the united_states . and while there is one doctor for every 450 americans , there is one for every 275 russians . reasonable attempts to teach proper sanitary habits would save thousands of people from serious illness every year , health specialists say . but such programs are extremely rare . russians smoke obsessively . but most doctors here do not even bother to try to keep their patients from smoking . they simply recommend that their patients buy american cigarettes , which are more expensive but lower in tar and nicotine than anything made in russia . dr . hall said that personnel costs should account for about 70 percent of medical spending the rest should go for supplies and equipment . russia puts 95 percent of its resources into salaries , but usually for doctors who are so poorly trained that they are unable to diagnose the simplest ailments . there seems to be no quick way out of the crisis unless the country changes its priorities . russia has no money for health , but under the present system more money would almost certainly be poorly spent . doctors point to a fledgling movement to change the system as the only hope and say they are thrilled that president boris n . yeltsin has just decided to ban liquor and tobacco ads and to require anyone who continues to accept these ads to turn any revenues from them over to public_health officials . " it sounds trite , but a nation 's health is the main indicator of the social_welfare of any country , " said dr . yelena i . chernienko , the director of tula 's public_health system . " we have goods in the shops now and the ability to buy new computers . you can take vacations in europe and buy color_televisions . but who are those things for , i wonder , if we have a life_expectancy of 55 in this country ? we are dying at a rate that is almost impossible to describe . to me that is the most important fact about the possibilities of the new russia . " prevention top culprits diet and poor hygiene despite the complexity of the health problems russians face , the sources of some of the avoidable illness are easy to trace , and with experience as their guide , it is not surprising that many russians fear and hate doctors and the health_care system . anyone who undergoes any surgical procedure in russia has an even chance of catching an infection in the hospital . in public opinion_polls , most russians list health as a major issue , second only to crime . many big city operating rooms resemble the clinics of rural 19th_century america in significant ways . there is no attempt at infection_control visitors are not even asked to wash their hands . there are no scrub nurses , truly sterile instruments are rare , blood is washed off the hospital floor with a garden hose . the heavy lights in many operating rooms were discarded in the west 30 years ago . prevention is the cheapest and most effective way to treat any illness , but the concept has not gained much currency . few people think about fat or cholesterol . alcohol consumption , already among the highest in the world , is rising rapidly . epidemiologists and environmental_health specialists say improper treatment of two generations of industrial , conventional and radioactive waste has also begun to take a punishing toll on the population . there are few effective health regulations , and nobody really pays attention to those that do exist . health specialists say that some of russia 's health problems could be prevented with relative ease and with little money . an inexpensive vaccine that has long been available could wipe out the country 's diphtheria epidemic , for example . in the united_states , with its population of 255 million , one case of diphtheria was recorded last year by the centers_for_disease_control and prevention . preliminary estimates for russia 's 148 million residents suggest there were nearly 50 , 000 cases , a rate of 31 per 100 , 000 people . in 1993 , russia had 15 , 000 cases of diphtheria . it is not yet clear why rates of infectious_disease have soared so uncontrollably in the last two years . poland , by comparison , recorded only a few cases of diphtheria last year fewer than one resident in a million had the disease . " our biggest shame is also an opportunity for us , " said dr . galina m . perfilyeva , dean of russia 's first graduate nursing academy , the i . m . sechenov medical_school in moscow . " we can make dramatic gains in health with even a little effort . we can use trained nurses better , teach people about vitamins , diet and exercise . this alone would save tens of thousands of lives each year . " but she acknowledged that " our mentality in russia is not to protect or prevent . " " it has n't been that long that people could even consider the idea of living a life to a natural end , " she said . " but if we do n't change soon it will be too late . people will forever believe that faith healers , fake doctors and medicine men are more likely to help them than trained professionals . that feeling makes it impossible to accomplish anything . " a cure building 'a future worth living for' but health experts say russia could improve conditions . public_health officials no longer live in an enforced communist darkness here . they know what is known in the rest of the world that bad diets , alcohol and tobacco cause more deaths each year than all other causes . the officials are frightened by the rising rates of infectious_diseases , by the health problems of pregnant_women and babies , and by the stunning unwillingness of the society to devote more money to health_care . " most of what we see here is inexcusable it just should n't happen , " said evgeny p . ivanov , chief of emergency_medical_services in tula . " every day people die of alcohol poisoning every day . industrial accidents , too much smoking these are what kill . there is no attempt at moderation . we are trying to change that but it wo n't happen overnight . " dr . ivanov and many other young physicians are spending their free time these days canvassing neighborhoods and talking to people about the simplest medical facts that washing hands and cleaning bathrooms matter , that alcohol is a poison and homemade alcohol often a deadly drug , that people actually feel better when they eat less . the same attempt at education has begun in moscow , which even has a few billboards dwarfed in number by cigarette and liquor advertisements promoting exercise and healthy food . private think tanks like the public_health research institute in moscow are springing up to make computer models of hospital systems that make sense . confronted with proof that the right way is also the least expensive way , senior officials in the ministry of health are finally taking notice . " twenty percent of our problems are medical and 80 percent are economic , " said dr . valery e . tchernayavsky , of the public_health institute , which is financed by the ministry of health and the world_health_organization . " we have shown people they can succeed cheaply . we are about to go on television with no smoking ads . we are going to talk about sexual behavior and infectious_diseases . one minute at the right moment can do more than a million dollars . " " i admit we have a lot of work to do , " he said , standing next to a computer model of russia 's most basic health needs for the next 30 years , which he worked up on a laptop computer . " but we are going to do it . these are some bad times people have little confidence in the future . but things can change dramatically for the better as well as for the worse . we are going to convince russians there is a future worth living for and then we are going to show them how to live . "

has a location of russia

when gerrye and richard zuckerman dreamed of a child , they never envisioned that it would take five months of paperwork , a 5 , 000 mile plane trip to moscow and a train ride 460 miles southeast to a small town on the volga_river to find one . nor did they anticipate that a child born to another couple could bring such joy . all the zuckermans knew was that they wanted a baby . and three years of infertility treatment had not produced one . recently , mrs . zuckerman opened a photo album in the bright , white kitchen of her yorktown home and turned to the last page . it was an album mrs . zuckerman , 46 , and her husband , richard , 52 , prepared as required by an orphanage in saratov , russia . " we leave this page blank , " mrs . zuckerman wrote on the last page , " hoping to fill it with the picture of a child that we will love forever . " at that moment matthew , who is 2 , dashed in , laughing and chasing the family poodle . he looked up at his mother with flushed cheeks and radiant brown eyes , a beautiful , blond haired , exuberant little boy . " i look at him , " mrs . zuckerman said , " and i ca n't believe it . i see him do these wonderful things , and i wonder what his biological mother would think . i wonder if she 'd be happy to see him and how happy he is today . " matthew was born with a bilateral cleft palate , a vertical split that extended from his upper lip to the base of his nose . the split continued backward , from behind his gum to the cavity of his nose . he was a russian couple 's first child . matthew had no roof to his mouth and could not breast feed or drink from a bottle . he was immediately fed from a cup and spent the first seven months of his life in a hospital before being sent to an orphanage . if he had not been adopted , he would have been institutionalized . food often came up through his nose . he was malnourished and hungry . because of economic difficulties , russian doctors do n't always have the equipment and installations to perform the operation needed to correct his birth deformity . by offering matthew to someone who could better care for him , his birth parents became saints in the zuckermans' eyes . the zuckermans are typical of many american couples who adopt children today in that they are older and arrive at the adoption procedure wounded by infertility . they let go of their dream of a biological child and ask , simply , for a child , anyone 's child to love . " people come to me so bruised , so emotionally hurt , " said lilyan chrappa , executive director of the child and family adoption resource and consultation center in new paltz , which counsels prospective parents . " they have been holding on to disappointment for so long that when i say , yes they can have a child , they break down . " ms . chrappa , the mother of two adopted children , performed a home study for the zuckermans . a home study is required for every adoption . a licensed social worker questions the couple in their house . her office works with world child inc . , an international adoption agency based in silver_spring , md . mrs . zuckerman got the idea of adopting from russia after reading a newspaper article about a couple who did it . the zuckermans decided against adopting in the united_states because they were afraid that a young american mother might reject them because of their age or later want her child back . although mrs . zuckerman knows two couples whose first domestic adoptions failed , both couples later succeeded . " adoption is not easy , " mrs . zuckerman said . " infertility is not easy . but it 's not an insurmountable problem either . if you hang in there , it works . " when mrs . zuckerman flew to moscow to pick up 20 month old matthew in september 1994 , she did not know how to change a diaper . she did not know how to communicate with matthew or console him as he tearfully left the orphanage with her and her husband , two strangers . two weeks after matthew arrived in the united_states , a plastic surgeon , dr . court cutting , performed the first of two operations at new york_university medical center . dr . cutting rebuilt matthew 's face , reconstructing his sunken nose , and repaired his gum and lip . he removed baby teeth that were growing in matthew 's nose . mr . and mrs . zuckerman stood in the medical center during the first operation , " and the pain and the fright was very real , " mrs . zuckerman said . " i wondered how i could love this little guy so much . " that moment , she finally felt like his mother . mr . zuckerman is a father of two grown children from a previous marriage . " i feel no difference between matthew and my two other children , " he said . " i do n't think of matthew other than as my son . " mrs . zuckerman said she wonders why she did n't quit her infertility treatments sooner . though doctors offer much hope , the fact is that infertility treatment fails for three out of four couples . mrs . zuckerman said that if she had known then what she knows now , she would never have gone through all the infertility procedures . " people really need to know that there 's some help elsewhere , " mrs . zuckerman said . the zuckermans found help through the adoptive parents committee , a support and information group offering monthly meetings and a newsletter titled adoptalk . the yearly adoption conference of the committee will be held on nov . 19 and will feature about 100 adoption workshops at the c . w . post campus of long_island_university in brookville , l.i . adoption , ms . chrappa said , is " a process that absolutely , bottom line , works . " the zuckermans want to adopt another russian child , although russian adoptions are currently closed to foreigners , pending a new law . " everybody 's put on earth to do something , " mrs . zuckerman said as she watched matthew giggle and play . " maybe i 've been put on earth to be an ordinary person . not to do anything great , but to do something small that involves great love . " for more information on adoption , the adoptive parents committee 's hudson region chapter can be reached at 997 7859 .

has a location of russia

on a recent tuesday morning when women 's health_service no . 15 in central moscow held its regular abortion clinic , the waiting room was empty . of the half dozen cots in the recovery room , only one was filled . masha , a 23 year old mother with sad blue eyes , was the only woman in that day for a ' 'mini , '' or early abortion , which in russia , as once in the soviet_union , is widely available . ten years ago , the waiting room would have been crowded with pregnant_women . but as the birth_rate in russia has plunged , so has the number of abortions from a high of 4.6 million in 1988 to 2.5 million in 1997 . after decades of waiting , russian women finally can explore other means of birth_control . in soviet_times , abortion was the main means of birth_control the rule of thumb was almost two abortions for every live birth . that fact , then hidden from public view , was one of the most shameful aspects of a medical system that routinely neglected its female patients , from birth to death . not only did soviet women die more often in childbirth and undergo more abortions than western women , but they were not even provided with the most elementary sanitary products , let alone easy access to the pill or other reliable contraceptives . with communism 's collapse , birth_control , once a subject that was considered vaguely indecent , became a matter of public discussion . articles appeared in newspapers , gynecologists appeared on television talk_shows but most important , contraceptives , all imported from the west , appeared in pharmacies . in 1993 , the russian health ministry began a family_planning program , opening more than 200 clinics around the country , retraining doctors , midwives and nurses , and providing an eager public with information and advice on sex , pregnancy and birth . the government 's efforts have been amplified by an active network put in place by the russian family planning association and by western pharmaceutical companies . these firms' entry into the untapped russian market has been accompanied by pamphlets , seminars , billboards and heavily discounted special offerings on contraceptives made available through women 's health centers . the results have been noteworthy , particularly against the backdrop of an otherwise crippled health system . abortions , maternal and infant_mortality have all fallen . in 1993 , for every 100 , 000 births in russia , 70 women died during pregnancy or childbirth , while for each 1 , 000 children under one year of age , 19 died in both categories , the rates were roughly three times those in western_european countries . in 1998 , according to preliminary figures , the maternal mortality rate had fallen to 50 per 100 , 000 births and the infant_mortality_rate to 16 . 6 per 1 , 000 infants . both infant and maternal mortality rates are still much higher than those of western_europe . abortions , available without restriction through 12 weeks , and for medical and social reasons up to 22 weeks , still occur at a higher rate than anywhere in europe except romania . attitudes are proving difficult to change . ''abortion in this country had become a normal state of affairs , and there were many women who had five or six without any hesitation , '' said the rev . maksim obukhov , a russian_orthodox priest whose parish has become an anti abortion movement 's headquarters . ''you have to remember that people were raised in an atheist state , where children were taught in biology that an embryo was like a fish . abortion is a tradition , handed down by mothers , even grandmothers . to examine attitudes toward abortion is to examine the vestiges of communism . '' considering that abortion accounts for roughly one third of maternal deaths , the decision by millions of russian women to turn to other means of birth_control has itself saved numerous lives . the number of maternal deaths caused by abortion has dropped dramatically from 349 in 1989 to 154 in 1997 . but some doctors also attribute the improved numbers to the fact that there are fewer mothers and fewer babies . russia 's birth_rate has dropped , from 13 . 4 per 1 , 000 population in 1990 to 8.6 per 1 , 000 in 1997 . ''the fact is that there are far fewer pregnant woman , which means that they are getting much more attention , '' said maya y . yerokhina , chief doctor at women 's health_service no . 15 . at the research center for obstetrics , gynecology and perinatology , dr . vladimir n . serov , the deputy director and chief medical specialist , takes cautious pride in the improved maternity statistics , which , he noted wryly , are the only health indicators in russia to show a positive trend recently . but he worries that russia 's current parlous state threatens even these modest gains . for russian nationalists and their communist allies , the drop in russia 's birth_rate taken with the surge in the death rate is seen as a plot to smother russia in its cradle . for these people , family_planning has become the enemy , despite improved maternal health and reduced abortions . the nationalist argument , backed by the russian_orthodox_church , did win one battle last year , when the russian_parliament voted to block federal funds for family_planning . other money , including some from regional budgets , has been made available to carry on the program , but subsidies for free or discounted contraceptives are drying up . after the financial_crisis last summer , family_planning advocates are watching closely to see if russian couples stop using contraceptives because they cannot afford them . foreign pharmaceutical companies are also concerned , and in some cases have held down prices . ''for instance , we have pills that used to cost 1 . 40 that are now priced at the ruble equivalent of 70 cents , so women who have grown used to our products can continue to use them , '' said aleksandr shlychkov , a gynecology specialist at the german pharmaceutical company schering . a recent study in the central russian region of ivanovo , where the national family_planning_association has an active chapter , indicates that the economic crisis which hit in august when the ruble 's downward plunge began has already taken its toll . sales of birth_control pills , which had crept upward from january to july , began to tumble in august . even before the crisis , doctors and pharmacists discovered a strong resistance to the pill , which many russian women were convinced causes cancer . it is not uncommon for doctors to hear women say that they think abortions are safer than pills and that safest of all are the old folk formulas concocted by their peasant grandmothers . even so , use of birth_control pills here shot up in the 1990 's , as younger women became sexually_active and began using them . in 1990 , only 1.7 percent of russian women in their fertile years took the pill in 1997 , the percentage was 6.8 percent , a surge that family_planning experts call rare , and dramatic . but even with the best of contraceptives , women still get pregnant , which is why masha showed up recently for her second abortion . in a wan voice , she explained her family 's quandary . her first child , a 5 year old boy , suffers from a rare tissue cancer that drains her husband 's salary as a physician 's assistant , and her energy as a mother . at this point , she said softly , a second child was simply out of the question . ''maybe if the financial situation was different , if our child was healthy , but . . '' her voice trailed off as she brushed a lock of hair from her tired face . correction april 1 , 1999 , thursday picture captions on monday about the declining rate of abortion in russia misstated the location of the abortion clinic shown . it is st . petersburg , not moscow .

has a location of russia

the young man sitting before the psychiatrist stared darkly at the wall and bit his lip to keep from crying . he had answered a dozen questions about his sexual habits and absorbed in silence a lecture about how aids would change his life . ''aleksei , everything now is up to you , '' the psychiatrist , oleg petroshuk , told him gently . ''if you take care of yourself you can live a long time . i know how hard this is , but you have to believe me nothing ends here . '' as if in answer , aleksei stripped to the waist . he has three tattoos , but the one that draws the eye covers his left shoulder . it is a skull engulfed in huge batwings . above the wings two english words have been burned into his skin ''no future . '' few words could apply more fully to aleksei , who is 23 , or to this odd and lonely city , which has suddenly become the center of what many experts say is the world 's fastest moving epidemic of aids infection . kindled by a surge in the use of an easily contaminated liquid form of heroin , the epidemic has been fueled , as anywhere , by poverty and unemployment . but that is not why h.i.v. , the virus that causes aids , is now tearing ''like a forest fire through russia , '' in the words of this country 's chief aids official , mikhail narkevich . while the soviet_union stood , official prudishness combined with totalitarianism to keep borders closed and sexual freedom to a minimum . the aids virus , on the other hand , thrives on drug abuse and the open road . and since the fall of communism , both have been particularly plentiful here , in the vague borderland between europe and russia . kaliningrad is unique , but it is not alone . a special_economic_zone that was supposed to become russia 's hong_kong , it has floundered economically . but its status helped ignite the interlocking epidemics of drug addiction and aids that are now rolling across russia . an isolated outpost lost between poland and lithuania , kaliningrad is one of europe 's essential crossroads . the city called konigsberg before germany lost it to the soviet_army in world_war_ii does n't quite look like russia , and it does n't quite feel like europe . it is a giant warehouse . everything here is cheaper than it is elsewhere in russia . beer and vodka are a third of what they cost in moscow . it is the best place to get smuggled cars and discount narcotics . there are 5 , 000 prostitutes on the streets in kaliningrad , and more in clubs and casinos . the syphilis rate a sign of sexual activity and a harbinger of aids is 3 times the average for russia , and almost 100 times the rate in germany . after more than 15 years of an epidemic that has infected tens of millions of people across the world , there are few places on earth where the h.i.v . infection rate has risen more rapidly . ''all the conditions are there for a disaster , '' said aleksandr gromyko , the world_health_organization 's regional adviser on h.i.v . and aids for europe and russia . ''and nobody is remotely ready for it . the virus has spread so fast in kaliningrad that even the few people who are trying to do something are lost . ''i am afraid we can no longer pretend that russia will somehow avoid the full force of the aids epidemic . what you see in kaliningrad today is only the beginning for russia . '' russia 's pathway for an epidemic kaliningrad has now become the central pathway to russia not just for cars or beer , but for disease as well . a year ago just 28 people here were known to have been infected with the aids virus . as of oct . 15 there were at least 1 , 850 , a far higher proportion in this city of 400 , 000 than anyplace else in europe . from kaliningrad , the truck routes and the epidemic head south through belarus and ukraine and north to st . petersburg . it usually takes years for a person infected with h.i.v . to show clear signs of illness . but it only take minutes , and a quick contaminated dose of narcotics , to become infected at the park near the baltika stadium . ''the thing that surprised me most about kaliningrad , '' said leo kenny , a senior consultant for unicef , ''is that among dozens of drug users and prostitutes we have interviewed , not one had ever even seen a person who was sick . it has all happened that fast . '' he and officials here said that in a small sample of 200 prostitutes who agreed to be tested , 85 percent were infected with h.i.v . a year ago the figure was less than 5 percent . unicef , the united_nations children 's fund , is considering starting a major program here , in part because so many of those affected are in their teens . today , kaliningrad is filled with an odd mixture of fear and complacency . posters suddenly appeared throughout the city this week ''danger aids , '' they read , going on to warn residents that a disease ''worse than plague'' is upon them . like a repetition of the 80 's in the u.s . ''in the last week alone , 30 new cases of this deadly illness have appeared among people between the ages of 18 and 30 , '' the notice states . it then points out that every daughter on the way to a disco is under threat , as is every boy who might choose this as the day to stick a needle into his arm . the poster suggests that if things do not change soon , the only money in the city 's slim health budget will have to be spent on aids . ''think about your children , parents and loved ones , '' it ends . ''do n't die of ignorance . '' but ignorance or perhaps more accurately , denial is the affliction that threatens kaliningrad today more than any other . some people here would call it an ignorance that should never have come to pass . ''today is 1981 in new york or san_francisco , '' said dr . oleg mormot , referring to the dark years when the aids epidemic first took hold in the united_states . dr . mormot is director of kaliningrad 's only aids center , a small nest of offices tucked behind the aging edifice of the city 's ancient infectious_disease hospital . the hospital itself has six h.i.v . patients all it can handle right now . but because methadone use is illegal in russia , the doctors there let them leave their beds and buy narcotics on the street once a day . each time they leave the hospital , they take the virus back onto the street . ''we are repeating the history in those cities as if they never happened anywhere before , '' dr . mormot said . ''as if russia can learn nothing from the west . you cannot convince a young drug addict or prostitute here that they are in danger , because most of them have never seen aids . they have no jobs , and a shot of heroin costs less than 5 . that 's the reality of it . nothing else matters . '' you cannot talk about aids in kaliningrad unless you talk about drug addiction . dirty_needles have always been the most efficient way to spread the aids virus . the way drugs are prepared in kaliningrad has increased the efficiency to a grim science . hymka , a liquid opiate that the addicts often mix with their blood to help it settle , is the drug of choice here . a glassful usually three doses goes for less than 20 . in 1995 the number of people who tested positive for h.i.v . here would not have filled a small classroom . less than 1 percent of them were drug abusers . last year , 20 percent of those infected got that way by using dirty_needles . this year , as in much of russia , the shift has been fundamental . ''the official figures are that 75 percent get infected with h.i.v . through dirty_needles , '' said aleksandr a . dreizin , the chief physician at the regional narcology hospital . ''the real_number is more like 96 percent . the only people here who get aids any other way are prostitutes who have sex with infected drug addicts and children who are born to them . '' dr . dreizin says that there are about 10 , 000 addicts in the city and that many of them by now are probably infected with h.i.v . homosexual intercourse so far has played only a minor role in the spread of h.i.v . here . the reasons for drug use in kaliningrad are not novel . unemployment among the young is close to 50 percent , said irina vershinina , deputy chairman of the city_council . there are few opportunities to advance and few avenues of escape . throughout the day young men with stringy hair and dark jackets exchange what cash they have for their fix in front of the polytechnic institute or one of the local theaters . late at night the prostitutes add their commerce to the mix . there are no needle_exchange_programs . money for prevention and treatment scarce although the local governor , not a political radical by any means , has called for a closer look at legal prostitution and an end to russia 's long prohibition of methadone treatment of drug addicts , neither is likely . there will be just 5 million in the aids budget for the coming four years , and that money includes the construction of a hospital . the idea of spending public_health money on a methadone program for drug users is politically impossible in russia at a time when there is not even money for the most basic programs of childhood vaccinations . ''hey , i know all about aids , '' said yevgeny , 21 , a computer student at the technical institute who spoke on condition that his full name not be used . ''i do n't use drugs much . but when i do , i do n't buy the gypsy drugs . '' most people here attribute the habit of mixing blood with the opiates to gypsies although there seems to be no truth to the idea . ''i buy it clean , '' yevgeny said , ''and i buy clean_needles . so i 'll be o.k . i do n't do it that much , anyway . '' oddly enough , the official who appears to recognize most clearly what kaliningrad is up against , and is the most eager to do something about it , is valery a . zaborovsky , a colonel in the russian interior_ministry who overseas the region 's prison system . the head of the regional health department , larisa melchenko , refused in an interview to discuss any aspect of the aids epidemic or divulge the regional health budget . ''do you give out such information in the west ? '' she asked , seemingly unaware that such information is given out readily in moscow . but colonel zaborovsky answered every question put to him and granted a reporter and photographer total access to a special prison ward for people infected with the aids virus . ''what are we going to get from lying and hiding here ? '' the colonel asked . unlike most of his colleagues across russia , he believes in making prostitution legal , opening methadone clinics and maybe even closing the aids ward at special prison 216 . that is the locked quarters where 117 h.i.v . infected men , all drug abusers , are kept in isolation from other prisoners . their gray barracks looks like any other but comes at the end of a long row of prison housing not far from the city . the first four dorms have wooden picket fences in front of them and prisoners strolling aimlessly in the yards . the last dorm is hidden behind a locked concrete gate . ''we put these men in prison because it is against the law to use drugs , '' colonel zaborovsky said . ''i am not going to tell you that it helps them or us to have them there , but i must obey the law . '' he said the isolation ward was a protection for the inmates those who are infected and those who are not . rape is at least as common in the russian prison system as it is in the united_states . the ward itself is depressing , but no more so than its neighbors . hot water is rare , medical treatment more so . most of the men are in their early 20 's . they want aid , hospital rooms and fancy new drugs that next to no one in russia can afford . ''i have a deadly disease , '' said one young inmate with burning blue eyes who insisted on being identified only by his prison number , 738437 . ''i 'm going to die here because i made a few mistakes . is that fair ? should n't i get a better break than that ? '' about an hour earlier , colonel zaborovsky made the same point . ''what we have now is a huge problem we are facing with a system that does n't work and is n't fair , '' he said . ''if we lock up every person who gets infected from drugs here , we surely are going to need a lot of prisons . they cost money too , you know . ''

has a location of russia

the palace of young_pioneers was one of those ideas that could have been born only in the brain of a bolshevik . conceived by lenin 's wife as the world 's biggest recreational complex , the building had open exercise space for 5 , 000 robust young communists , a lecture hall with 1 , 000 seats , dozens of rooms for meetings and clubs , a movie_theater , a concert stage and a pool . it took the party 's youth group three million hours of collective labor to build the palace , and nearly every great hero of the soviet_union appeared there at one time or another . rudolf_nureyev danced in the palace as a young man it was there that garry kasparov emerged as the strongest chess player in the world . and in 1991 , while casting his vote at the palace for the dissolution of the soviet_union , boris n . yeltsin issued one of his fiercest attacks on the party that he had deserted . ''this place is just so full of history , '' valentina malnova , 25 , said as she straddled a machine called a sit master , which uses electronic measurements and a series of timers to help people in search of an ideal abdomen perform the perfect situp . ''history is definitely part of the reason this club is so cool . '' still a monument to the notion of fitness on the grandest possible scale , the 45 , 000 square_foot palace is under radically new management . after months of negotiation , hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of reconstruction and the installation of what its owners swear are more treadmills and stair climbing machines than existed in the entire soviet_union , the place has been transformed into the high tech home of russia 's newest , biggest and trendiest health_club , gold 's gym . in a city where marketing experts long ago learned that the best way to attract the right shoppers is to charge high prices , and where the new rich buy more mercedes sedans and 100 , 000 stereo sets than in any other place on earth , it was only a matter of time before the fitness craze if that is a proper way to describe an elite club with 500 members and a snack area that offers espresso and latte made from beans flown in each week from seattle took hold of the imagination . ''it was just a gaping need in the community , '' said james b . weinstock , a recent graduate of the university of pennsylvania who is one of the club 's three main partners . ''we are not pretending this place is for the average russian . obviously it is n't . but we are hoping that it will help start the ball rolling . we will do everything we can to help people understand how health and fitness can improve the quality of their lives . '' that may not mean a lot to the man working on the zil assembly_line , but for those who can come up with the 2 , 000 annual membership fees , gold 's gym can do quite a bit there are two indoor tennis courts , a nike sport court for basketball and volleyball , and scores of cybex weight machines . also on hand are personal trainers , a playroom for toddlers , nannies ( to look after children whose parents are busy with the personal trainers ) , aerobic classes taught by graduates of moscow 's elite institute of physical_culture , tanning booths , squash courts and a store that sells 25 gold 's gym t shirts and 210 nike gore tex athletic shoes . then there is the latte . ''it 's not from starbucks , believe it or not , '' said paul j . kuebler , another partner . ''it 's from a small roaster that i have always loved . '' mr . kuebler , 31 , mr . weinstock , 25 , and a russian partner , vladimir grunlik , 31 , have a 25 year lease on the premises . both of the americans had been in moscow for some time before deciding to open the club they raised the money mostly in the united_states , although a majority of those seeking to join so far are russian . the partners have paid gold 's , which has hundreds of gyms around the world , a licensing fee for use of the name . it may be a club famous for introducing the world to arnold_schwarzenegger 's finely tooled and incredibly huge chest ( in the film ''pumping iron'' ) , and it is still revered in california as the temple of bodybuilding ( where else could you see keanu reaves , mickey rourke and wilt_chamberlain work out ? ) , but gold 's is hardly a brand name in moscow . ''i had never heard of it , '' said angela kushinikova , 23 , an aerobics instructor . ''people are here because it is a wonderful place to work out . it 's a pleasant break from a stressful life . nobody is going to pay that kind of money for the name alone . '' mr . weinstock , who is generally called jake , is an animated and excitable young man . on a tour of the seemingly_endless complex he is eager to point out every sophisticated piece of equipment in the place . he clams up only when asked about the mob . mafia members are famous for hanging out at moscow 's sporting clubs keeping them from infiltrating gold 's while trying to triple the current membership is clearly one of the partners' trickiest tasks . ''we never say we do n't want you , '' mr . weinstock said with a tight smile . ''we tell them we are full up , or we are not taking members for awhile . we have it worked out . so far it has n't been a problem . '' that may be because the club has very conspicuous and very large guards of its own . and it may be because it has not even held its official opening party yet . ''i just love the atmosphere in this place , '' said one well dressed man who declined to be quoted by name . ''it 's so spacious , so inviting . you almost think you are in another country . '' asked how he managed to come up with the money to join , the man issued a reply that invited no further questions . ''savings , '' he said , laughing harshly . ''i am using my savings . '' moscow journal

has a location of russia

the crewmen who have manned the international_space_station for five months said today that they would miss it but were eager to head home now that their replacements had arrived . the crew of two americans capt . kenneth d . bowersox of the navy , the station commander , and dr . donald r . pettit , science officer and a russian flight_engineer , nikolai m . budarin , is to return to earth this weekend after an extended stay caused by the columbia accident . originally scheduled to be picked up in march by an american shuttle , before the fleet was grounded , the crew will go home in the russian soyuz_spacecraft that was their emergency lifeboat . they will leave the station on saturday after handing over the keys to a two man replacement crew that arrived on monday in another soyuz , a russian astronaut , yuri i . malenchenko , and his american counterpart , dr . edward t . lu . ''i 'm going to miss the station a lot , '' captain bowersox said in an orbital news conference featuring both crews . ''i kind of feel like i am being kicked out of my apartment for not paying the rent . '' ''but when i get back to earth , the best part is going to be , to be able to hug my wife and hug my kids , '' he added . dr . pettit will be reunited with 2 year old twin boys who were not talking in sentences when he left . ''i have never been with them when they have been talking , '' he said , adding that he also was ''looking forward to some good home cooking . '' mr . budarin , who celebrated his 50th birthday today , thanked his family and others for presents delivered by the replacement crew . ''this is a big number for me , five zero , and good to share with family and friends , '' he said . captain bowersox and dr . pettit said they were looking forward to being the first nasa astronauts to land in a soyuz space capsule , which is to parachute down into an open field in kazakhstan in central_asia . ''i 'm actually sort of excited about it , '' captain bowersox said . ''it will be a very interesting life experience . '' mr . malenchenko said landing in a soyuz was very different from coming home in a space_shuttle . the soyuz landing involves greater pulls of gravity on the body , jarring rocket firings , swinging under a parachute and hitting the ground after the last minute firing of braking rockets . ''it 's a pretty big difference , '' mr . malenchenko said , ''landing by shuttle is a pretty comfortable landing , like commercial airplane . ''

has a location of russia

as russia began two days of national mourning for the victims of a school siege in north ossetia , criticism mounted over the government 's handling of the wave of terrorism that has taken more than 500 lives in the past two weeks . television news programs showed processions of coffins in muddy fields where more than 150 people were buried monday after the three day siege at the school last week that left at least 338 people dead , about half of them children . mourners left candles at makeshift shrines but also bottles of water , which the hostage takers had denied their captives . a frightened , unshaven man , identified on state television as a captured hostage taker , said the attack on the school in the town of beslan in the southern russian_republic of north ossetia had been intended to set off a war in the caucasus region . taking an unusually harsh tone , newspapers and independent commentators said the government of president vladimir v . putin had failed to protect its citizens from an escalating campaign of terrorism or to be honest about that campaign 's roots in the decade long war in the breakaway republic of chechnya . just six months after riding a huge wave of popularity into a second term , mr . putin found himself facing the most direct criticism of his tenure . ''the president 's contract with the people is not being fulfilled , '' wrote vladimir ryzhkov , an outspoken independent lawmaker , in the newspaper nezavisimaya gazeta . ''the point to consider here is that president putin has been given a vast amount of power personal power , '' he wrote . ''the parliament , the political_parties and the media have retreated into the background . essentially , they are no longer independent . the president was awarded a contract to restore order in russia and ensure that russia 's people are safe . today we see that this contract has been broken . '' in a speech on saturday , mr . putin said russia had let down its guard after the collapse of the soviet_union 13 years ago and would now need to rebuild its defenses against internal and external enemies . human_rights groups said they feared that this might be a signal for a further restricting of civil_liberties . the images of death and mourning seemed at least briefly to embolden newspapers to take to task a government that has been working hard to tame public criticism . the president 's explanations were not satisfactory , a number of them said . the newspaper kommersant said mr . putin 's emphasis in his speech on the evils of international_terrorism was a dodge that ''allows governments all over the world not to assume their responsibilities for the deaths of their citizens . '' ''it 's as if the children died not because of a war in chechnya that has been going on for 10 years , but because international_terrorism has been on the attack , '' it said . the newspaper vedemosti wrote , ''it is strange that the president neglected the question of chechnya in his address , '' trying instead ''to shift responsibility to the people who divided up the country in 1991 . '' even state television , which had characteristically played down the extent of the hostage taking at the school last week , conceded sunday that the government had a duty to keep the public better informed . ''at such moments , society needs the truth , '' said sergei brilyov , a commentator on the rossiya station . last wednesday , on the first day of the school siege , authorities said there were 120 to 150 hostages . on thursday , even as released hostages were saying there were more than 1 , 000 people inside the school , officials maintained that there were no more than 354 . finally the government put the number at 1 , 181 . nevertheless , the impulse to play down bad news appeared to remain strong here . on monday , the editor_in_chief of izvestia , raf shakirov , announced his forced resignation after publishing a front page on saturday that carried nothing but one huge , harrowing photograph of a man carrying a wounded child . speaking on radio_liberty , mr . shakirov , who had built the former communist government newspaper into one of the country 's most forthright publications , said he had been forced by the newspaper 's owner to resign for what he called his ''emotional'' coverage of the siege . ''we ran that photo to show what this means to our country , '' he said . ''and basically this image was later confirmed . this was a war . '' commenting on mr . shakirov 's dismissal , viktor loshak , the editor of the popular magazine ogonyok , told the radio_station , ''this scares me because we are moving far away from the country that we had been trying to build for the past 10 years . " among the most arresting television images here on monday , along with the parade of coffins and the keening of crowds of mourners , was the face of a terrified man , gripped tightly by two masked soldiers , who was identified as the only hostage taker to be captured alive . ''by god , i did not shoot ! '' he mumbled when asked if he had fired on fleeing hostages . ''by god , i have not killed ! '' asked by the soldiers if he had not had pity on the children he had held for 51 hours without food or water , he pleaded ''yes , i did have pity ! i have children , too . '' speaking in a slurred voice , he said , ''they gathered us in a forest , a person known as 'commander , ' and they said that we must seize a school in beslan . '' he said the orders had come from aslan maskhadov , a chechen rebel leader , and shamil basayev , a militant warlord . the man , whose name and nationality were not given , was said to have been captured as he hid behind a group of children , firing with an automatic weapon . the television commentary said , ''he is ready to answer all questions providing we do n't hand him over to the families of the victims . '' the desire to strike back in response to the televised images of traumatized children also seemed to focus on mr . putin , who found few defenders on monday . the communist_party , which has survived as one of the last centers of organized political opposition , seemed to fire with all barrels as it blamed the government 's shortcomings for the hostage taking . it listed ''economic breakdown amassed social problems unemployment a high crime rate corruption , in particular in law enforcement departments endless and thoughtless reforms of law enforcement departments neglected inter ethnic problems weakening cultural relations between the peoples of this country , and the mistakes made in chechnya . '' monday was the first of two days of mourning announced by the government , and in st . petersburg as many as 15 , 000 people gathered to observe a minute of silence . other gatherings were held in the cities of omsk and sochi . a similar gathering has been relentlessly promoted on television for tuesday afternoon near red_square in moscow . meanwhile , the dubai based television_station al_arabiya said its moscow bureau chief was arrested monday as he prepared to fly back to moscow after covering the hostage_crisis , agence_france_presse reported . the station gave no reason for the arrest of amr abdul_hamid , an egyptian born russian citizen . in brussels on monday , nato 's secretary general , gen . jaap de hoop scheffer , called a meeting of the nato russia council for tuesday to discuss the hostage taking . ''the intention is to demonstrate solidarity with russia in the fight against terrorism , '' said a nato spokesman , james appathurai . embassy open for condolences ( by the new york times ) , washington , sept . 6 the russian embassy here opened its doors to the public for two days through tuesday to allow visitors to sign a book of condolences for those killed in the hostage taking last week in beslan . the embassy said it was accepting donations for families of the dead , through checks payable to the victims of beslan attack .

has a location of russia

twenty six members of the iona class of '94 who received their m.b.a . 's at commencement exercises at the college on may 21 have already had several good job offers . the jobs are in noyabrsk , an oil producing city in western_siberia , where the recent russian graduates , now armed with the latest business management skills and their master 's degrees , intend to apply the principles and dynamics of a market driven economy to various enterprises in russia . dr . charles f . o'donnell , dean of the hagan school of business at the college , said that the group , made up of 17 men and 5 women , was the first to graduate from the innovative m.b.a . program that has been offered jointly by the hagan school at iona , the plekhanov academy , which is moscow 's leading management institute , and sinerghia , a private management organization in moscow . " the iona m.b.a . program in moscow was started with the assistance and initiative of dr . ehiel ash , associate professor of accounting , and dr . eduardo paderon , associate dean , and members of our faculty , " dr . o'donnell said . " dr . ash is recognized as one of the leading authorities on accounting in the soviet_union and a former professor of accounting at moscow 's plekhanov academy and the author of accounting textbooks still used there . " it was through his contacts , four years ago , that iona sponsored the first business program for training soviet executives to move into the free enterprise economy . the new m.b.a . program is a logical outgrowth of the relationship we have built up with russia . " the program , dr . o'donnell said , is an accelerated one year , 54 credit , degree program offered in four trimesters , with the final trimester spent on the iona campus in new rochelle , where russian students live in dormitories . in addition to their studies , they are required to work for an american company as an intern . dr . o'donnell , dr . ash and dr . paderon traveled to russia several times to make arrangements before the program was started in moscow last fall . dr . paderon , the program director , and dr . ash temporarily moved to moscow where they were joined by other iona professors and adjunct faculty_members from plekhanov academy and sinerghia . candidates applying for the program were required to have some proficiency in english , a bachelor 's degree or its equivalent or a higher degree , letters of reference and a personal interview . " more than 100 candidates applied , many of them with advanced degrees in such disciplines as petroleum engineering , economics and accounting , and they were already working in their fields , " dr . ash said . " it was hard to make the selection because so many of them were highly qualified . " the students , he reported , all came from noyabrsk which has a population of about 100 , 000 because its mayor , alexander busalov , saw the program as a way to insure the future of the city 's economy in the global market . what is especially interesting , dr . paderon said , is that noyabrsk was a secret town , completely concealed by the soviet regime so that it never appeared on a map or atlas until recently . time for reflection dr . ash said " the mayor believes so strongly that the program would help prepare the students , many of whom work at the major employer , neftegeophizika oil and gas company , for future leadership positions , that he asked at a meeting that the city officials invest 300 , 000 to pay the students' fees . " the city fathers agreed , he said , possibly because the oil company is in the process of privatization from 100 percent state ownership to 49 percent private ownership . stock in the company was sold for the first time last december . dr . ash added , " the mayor was wise enough to know that new skills are required to survive in a global economy . " on the day before graduation , just before the group was given a farewell barbecue at the rockland_county home of dr . paderon , they assembled in a classroom at iona for the last time to reflect on their experiences . galina sulimova , a 24 year old mining engineer and geologist , said , " i , for one , was very happy with the studies , because my ambition is to work internationally for the oil company , and first i had to learn how the free enterprise system operates . " 'we have no checks' natalya seskutova , 26 , a chief economist at the oil company , said she wanted to learn how to organize transportation systems . " i experienced myself how a big american company operates because i was given an internship at trans america leasing company , and in my studies i learned budgeting and accounting procedures which are used here which is important because when i go home , " she said . " i am hoping to establish transportation joint_ventures with other countries . i was impressed with the progressive culture of america , which i did not expect . " other internships in the region were provided by nynex , holiday_inn crowne_plaza hotel , natwest bank and the union state bank in nanuet . vladislav seskutov , 23 , an engineer who said he intends to pursue a career organizing and administering privately_owned oil and gas extracting companies , said " i had an internship at the union state bank . it was so interesting for me to observe how a bank in a free economy operates . i especially was fascinated by the procedures with checking . in russia , we have no checks . i never had seen one until i came here . " sergey vinogradov , who is 30 and a production mining engineer , said he was most interested in subjects dealing with financial management and accounting procedures . " i would like to go back to my job at the oil company and be able to use my knowledge to make it run more efficiently and to make better use of people , " mr . vinogradov said . " we in russia will now be competing in the global market , and we will have to have the same skills people in other countries have if we want to succeed . " progressiveness makes impression when some of the students were asked what they found most enjoyable about their stay in the united_states , mr . vinogradov replied " the tour to atlantic_city . i won 65 , and that made me very happy . " mr . seskutov said " i enjoyed everything here . i made many american friends , compared cultures with them , and i had a wonderful stay . " and so did ms . sulimova and ms . seskutova . " for me it was a great experience , " ms . sulimova said . " my internship was at united_parcel_service in manhattan , and i even delivered a package . what i was impressed with was the high status the managers gave the workers . they were equals . " ms . seskutova said she enjoyed the tours , especially those to museums , general_motors in tarrytown and the new york stock_exchange . " i was impressed with the progressiveness and the culture in america , " she added . an exciting opportunity the future russian business leaders are back home now , said dr . paderon , adding that mayor busalov told him that they can apply for any job they want . " they are now equipped to help an emerging entrepreneurial nation adopt the free enterprise system , " dr . paderon said . " it is a tremendously exciting opportunity for us at iona to help shape a new generation of leaders in russia and the emerging new republics of what was the former soviet_union . " dr . paderon added that he had forged strong ties with the students during their time here and already misses them . " they were so enthusiastic about all things american , from the appliances in the dormitory to the barbecue we held for them , " he said . " what i think is valuable is they will go back home and tell others who we are here as a people . their eyes widened , i remember , when they saw that we had a swimming_pool at our house , and i could sense that already they were beginning to think like entrepreneurs . "

has a location of russia

as a giant soyuz rocket thundered toward the badly_damaged mir_space_station , carrying a crew to undertake crucial repairs , the three astronauts aboard_mir struggled tonight with the latest in its seemingly_endless string of calamities . earlier today , russian space officials disclosed that both oxygen generators aboard the aging spacecraft have failed and that the crew has been forced to create oxygen by lighting special chemical ''candles . '' officials at mission control stressed that the crew was in no danger and that the chemical procedure could supply oxygen to last as long as two months . but the announcement of the latest mishap , as the repair vessel entered orbit toward the station after its launching today , dealt yet another blow to the pride of the russian space_program . ''yes , of course i am worried , '' said viktor blagov , the usually unflappable deputy flight director at mission control outside moscow , said of the failure of the second generator , which occurred on friday but was not made public until today . ''but this has happened many times before . they will be able to breathe and we will solve this problem once again . they have all been through worse . '' that assertion would be hard to dispute . mir has been so plagued by problems this year that russian priests have publicly discussed their concern that the station and its crew might be cursed . ''you have to give them credit for fixing these things , '' said a senior american space official in moscow who spoke on condition of anonymity . ''but it does sort of make you wonder which accident will be the one to knock it out of the box . '' it is a concern echoed in washington this year , as increasing numbers of officials there worry aloud about the united_states' collaboration in a program that seems unable to pass a week without a serious mishap . even before an unmanned cargo_ship crashed into the station in june , disabling one of its central sections , mir and its crew had been challenged this year more than at any time in its 11 years in orbit . the crew has been through a fire in february ( caused when one of the oxygen canisters they now must rely on burst into flames ) that filled the station with smoke and fumes . the oxygen generators broke once more in march , forcing the crew to return to the chemical canisters . in april , coolant seeped into the primary air purification system , causing it to fail . on june 25 , the supply ship smashed into the side of the spektr module , draining all air pressure and forcing the crew to seal the section from the rest of the 100 ton craft . that accident caused about half of the station 's power to fail . by july , the mission commander , vasily_tsibliyev , displayed heart irregularities and effects of psychological stress severe enough for mission control to relieve him from work to repair the station . soon after , the crew accidentally disconnected a cable that helped power the craft . ''there have been many problems up there , '' said kathleen maliga , the nasa spokeswoman at mission control here . ''but there will be problems on the international_space_station , too . this training will be invaluable for us in the future . '' many space experts agree with her . russian technology may be lagging mir is routinely compared to a giant tinker toy floating in space and its problems likened to the dilapidated old jalopies so commonly seen on russian roads . but so far , solutions have always been found . that may explain why nobody bothered to announce the failure of the main oxygen system until today . it has happened often in the past and it has always been fixed before a crisis developed . there are three principal ways of providing oxygen to the space_station . when supply ships come up , as the frequently do , they bring bottled oxygen that is then released into the station . that lets the crew breathe freely without having to rely on the generators , which they can then shut down . the elektron generators are the main source of oxygen . there are two units , one on the module known as kvant 1 and the other , which serves as a backup , on another module , kvant 2 . the kvant 2 generator has been out of commission since the accident in june . it is new and in perfect shape but the accident forced the crew to cut off power to the entire module , including the oxygen generator . that left the other generator . it was shut down on purpose about a week ago because there was enough natural air from the last supply ship to make its use unnecessary . when the crew tried to fire it up again on friday they found it would not work . they do not know why . ''this is a very subtle system and it often happens that it wo n't switch at the first go , '' said mr . blagov . ''air bubbles could get into it for example and they would need to be blown out . '' if the crew cannot soon figure out a way to ignite the tank , they may have to try and bring new power to the one that has been shut down since the accident . ''that would mean rigging some version of an extension cord or something , '' a nasa official said today . ''they are still trying to figure out how that would work . '' without the elektron units , the ship must rely on the supplemental ''candles , '' which are actually canisters filled with lithium perchlorate , a chemical that creates oxygen when burned . about 70 of those canisters are aboard , enough to last two months , said the space agency . but the next two months will be critical for the future of russian space_exploration , and officials here said today that they could not rely_solely on chemical oxygen . that is because the new crew bound for the space_station faces a huge array of problems that will require them to take as many as six space walks in the coming months . the main purpose of the mission for the commander , anatoly solovyov , and his flight_engineer , capt . pavel vinogradov , will be to repair the spektr module , which was home to many scientific_experiments and served as living quarters for an american astronaut on the station before the accident on june 25 . on aug . 20 , captain vinogradov , who has never before flown in space , will put on a cumbersome suit and swing open the hatch on the deserted module for the first time in two months . he will then reattach cables to solar_panels that will help power the station . the technical work is not particularly difficult but it requires great dexterity in close quarters . both men have practiced the work underwater in bulky scuba gear . nobody can be certain what will happen when the module is opened . michael_foale , the american astronaut who was living in the module at the time of the accident , said he was hopeful but not certain that all his sharp gear was securely stowed . but there is no way of knowing whether the frozen conditions have caused something to explode . if so , and if the space_suit of one of the men is punctured while he works , he will almost surely die . still , that repair will only be the first of several such forays . on sept . 3 the two men are scheduled to take a space walk to examine the puncture that caused spektr to lose pressure . then , at another date , they will have to try to fix it . before leaving for mir today , captain vinogradov seemed undisturbed by the hurdles he faces . ''we are like babies in space , we 've just started to work there , '' he told reporters . ''we are only learning to work though we 've been there for 40 years already . but these are only our first steps . ''

has a location of russia

vice_president al_gore and prime_minister viktor s . chernomyrdin of russia signed a series of agreements today providing for a major oil exploration project by american companies and calling for cooperation on the development of a joint space_station . the accords had been an importantfocus in three days of talks between american officials and the prime_minister . the meetings , including a session today between mr . chernomyrdin and president_clinton , helped set the stage for mr . clinton 's meeting with president boris n . yeltsin early next month in italy . under the terms of the 10 billion energy deal , russia gave permission for a consortium of american companies led by the marathon oil company to develop oil and gas reserves in the sakhalin islands off the pacific coast . the plans for cooperative efforts in space set as a goal the construction of a space_station that could have russian and american astronauts working side by side . the deals were worked out under the framework of a united_states russian commission that was established last year to explore opportunites for joint projects . among other agreements reached was russia 's pledge to stop making weapons_grade plutonium at its nuclear generating stations , although it remained unclear what assistance the united_states might provide to help russia convert to different power sources . mr . gore , who is co chairman of the commission with mr . chernomyrdin , described the projects as part of an effort to help the russians " really get down to the nitty_gritty of what they need to do to make this transition to a free democratic country . " in recent months the vice_president has courted mr . chernomyrdin , a former communist_party apparatchik seen by administration officials as a force for stability . the prime_minister 's meeting with mr . clinton opened a series of high level talks that will continue on july 10 in naples , where mr . yeltsin will join the president and other leaders of the group of seven industrial countries , and will resume at a formal united_states russian summit meeting in washington this fall .

has a location of russia

several regions in russia are including mandatory courses in the orthodox christian_faith as the new school year begins today , the moscow times reported . the courses will teach the subject from a secular and cultural point of view , and not be religious instruction , education officials told the paper . the addition of religion to public_school curriculums is further sign of the recovery of the orthodox faith in a nation still evolving from soviet_times , when atheism was state policy . c . j . chivers ( nyt )

has a location of russia

a communications_satellite that will beam the first uncensored television programs into western russia and siberia began orbiting the earth today after being sent into space atop an unmanned delta 2 rocket . the boeing_company launched the 150 million project , after three days of technical delays , for hughes space and communications company of los_angeles , which built the satellite and a ground station for media most , a private company in moscow . the 12 story rocket was supposed to lift off on thursday , but it was delayed while workers replaced a fuel level sensor , resolved data relay problems with the satellite and removed a safety railing mistakenly left in place around the rocket 's main engine . the rocket was finally airborne at 6 54 p.m . eastern time today . some 74 minutes later , the rocket released the barrel shaped , 26 foot tall satellite into orbit 801 miles above the earth . the spacecraft will remain there for six days before a motor lifts it to its working spot about 23 , 000 miles above kenya . named after the media most subsidiary responsible for its operation , the satellite , bonum 1 , is the first russian satellite to be manufactured and launched in the united_states . it also is the first privately_owned russian satellite and the first not subject to military or government control . early next year , after its operating systems are inspected , the satellite will begin broadcasting 50 channels of news , movies , sports and children 's shows into homes equipped with receiving dishes . none of the foreign or domestic programs will be reviewed by censors for the state . the system has 200 , 000 potential subscribers in western russia and among russian speakers in israel , according to the associated press .

has a location of russia

when nasa said on monday that mir 's two main oxygen generating systems had broken down it seemed as if the russian space_station had suffered another humiliating setback . but the glitch was not so much in space as on the ground . and the problem was not with the russians , but with the americans . as nasa officials acknowledged today , the american space agency 's alarming report about the oxygen generating systems was out of date at the time it was issued . the two systems had indeed had problems , but the three crew members soon got them running again , regaining access to a fresh supply of air . ''it was based on information we got earlier in the day and accurate at the time , '' said rob navias , a nasa spokesman . ''by the time it was processed and released the russians had actually proceeded with the activation of the systems . '' technical problems are hardly new for the 11 year old mir . but for years many of them have gone largely unnoticed because news reports were preoccupied with russia 's terrestrial crisis . after mir 's collision with a cargo spacecraft on june 25 , all that changed . for the first time in years , mir 's operations have been put under a microscope . mir 's problems were a riveting space drama and a vivid test of russia 's ability to maintain its role as a space power . further , an american astronaut was aboard , fueling interest on the part of american news organizations . since nasa provided timely and useful information on the mir it soon emerged as a principal source of information . russian officials , in contrast , have not always been as forthright in disclosing the mir 's problems . that , plus the competitive interest of the news_media in ''breaking'' stories on the mir has created the potential for scoops and misinterpretations . cultural attitudes have also come into play . while russians have the world 's only space_station and are proud of their ability to repair it , many westerners associate russia with poor quality_control . the furor over the oxygen producing systems on the mir contained all these elements . the latest chapter opened on monday when nasa officials reported that the primary and backup oxygen systems had broken down , leaving the three man crew with several days' worth of oxygen . today american and russian officials said there had been technical problems with mir 's oxygen generation systems . but the crew succeeded in reactivating the systems before going to bed on monday evening . specifically , the crew reactivated the elektron system , which nasa said today ''has been running a little warmer than desired . '' the crew also successfully replaced a part in a unit that burns oxygen generating ''candles'' and ignited three of them . the candles are chemical compounds that release oxygen as a byproduct of combustion . the crew 's success in reactivating the oxygen systems , however , was not immediately known to the americans because the nasa team had left the russian mission_control_center near moscow before the last communication of the day with the mir crew . ''the ops team had left for the day because they felt there was no threat to the crew , '' mr . navias said in a telephone interview . ''if they felt there was a threat to the crew that would not have happened . '' back in houston , the out of date information about the oxygen system was processed by the nasa bureaucracy and issued in nasa 's daily ' 'status report'' on the mir . a nasa spokesman later described the situation as serious , though not critical . nasa 's statement prompted angry denials by russian space officials , who insisted on monday_night that the oxygen generating systems were operating . but a duty official at the russian mission_control_center declined to provide his name , or discuss any details and slammed down the phone . nasa , for its part , also had difficulty trying to get detailed , up to date information , a nasa spokesman said . today a nasa spokesman said the agency had learned belatedly that the oxygen generation systems on the mir ''were not out very long . '' nasa took several steps today to qualify its ' 'status reports'' on the mir . unlike previous reports , the ' 'status report'' today noted that its information was current as of ' 'midafternoon moscow time . '' also , the agency included a new caveat . for further information on the mir 's status , nasa advised , reporters should contact the russian mission_control_center . ''the mir_space_station belongs to the russians , not to the united_states , '' said mr . navias . ''we just have a passenger on board . there will be times when the media cannot rely on us for the most up to date information . ''

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after three months , only a handful of spectators gather daily in the large pink colored courtroom , and the caged defendant is usually led out after a few minutes . but even the monotonous drone of the legal routine oozes unspeakable horror . on trial in courtroom no . 5 of the rostov oblast court is andrei chikatilo , a nondescript 56 year old clerk who is accused of slaughtering , mutilating and cannibalizing at least 53 young men and women over a dozen years . it has been billed the " trial of the century " in this southern port city on the don river , but more for the awesome magnitude of the crimes than for the drama of the proceedings . legally there is little suspense mr . chikatilo has confessed to all but six of the known killings and has added three , and he has been declared fit to stand trial . but russian legal procedures require the court to review every case , which fill 222 tall red volumes locked in large lockers in the cramped office of the presiding judge , leonid akubzhanov . at the current pace , the trial should end in august , and the sentence , almost certainly death , could be pronounced by mid september . how the day goes on this hot summer day the drill is much as it is every day . at 10 a.m. , mr . chikatilo is driven in from a k.g.b . holding cell in an olive drab van . at 10 30 a.m . he is led up an internal staircase by five internal ministry guards armed with sidearms and staves , and he is locked into an iron cage on the judge 's left . tall , slouched , with large glasses , unkempt hair and mustache , he looks like any of the countless other underpaid , middle_aged clerks plodding the streets . his shirt is decorated with faded emblems of the 1980 moscow olympic_games , his pants are rumpled , he wears no socks . mr . chikatilo , who is of ukrainian origin , was once a teacher , but was dismissed for making advances to a female student . his last job was as an apparatchik in a factory . he remains handcuffed and sways back and forth on his bench , yawning repeatedly . the guards array themselves around his cage , two facing him and three the public benches . on the opening day of the trial in april , distraught and screaming relatives hurled themselves at the cordon of police officers and soldiers around the cage , while from behind his bars mr . chikatilo brandished a color newspaper with the picture of a nude woman , shouting that it was this that brought him down . medics stood by to carry out people who fainted in the packed courtroom as the terribly detailed charges were read out . after a few weeks the relatives went back to work , and for a while the trial assumed something resembling a routine . but about a month ago , according to judge akudzhanov , mr . chikatilo began acting up . some bizarre demands at first be would curse the judge and the clerk , refusing to be quiet . then he began to make bizarre demands , insisting that he was pregnant and that his breasts were filling with milk , or that the ukrainian nationalist organization rukh had found him a new lawyer . one day he stripped_naked and waved his shirt over his head , shouting , " under this banner i battled the assyrian mafia ! " psychiatrists from serbsky institute in moscow were flown down , but they reiterated their initial finding that he was capable of standing trial . around the courtroom , some suspected mr . chikatilo was simulating he had little to lose now , since the death_penalty was a virtual certainty . but the man who led the 12 year hunt for the killer , viktor v . burakov , the chief of the section for serious sexual crimes in the rostov criminal investigation bureau , had a more frightening suspicion . " i believe he is really sick , " he said . " he seems to be in the same extreme condition , extreme agitation , in which he would commit his crimes . he needs release . if released now , i 'm sure he would commit a crime . " in any case , a new routine has taken hold . as soon as the judge calls the court to order , mr . chikatilo begins muttering complaints . where is the ukrainian lawyer ? where are his witnesses ? repeatedly , almost routinely , the judge orders him to sit and be quiet , and after exactly five minutes mr . chikatilo is once again ejected from the courtroom and led to the basement holding cell . the roll of victims flanked by the two " people 's assessors " who will join him in passing judgment , judge akubzhanov then opens the next huge red volume on his desk . one by one he names the victims and enters a few details into the record . dima ptashnikov , makarov , petrov , zobata , sasha chepil , pokhmestova , sasha gudko , igor ilarionov , diakon . . . the names roll out , each a young person who at a fateful moment chose to follow a nondescript stranger out of some decrepit terminal . most were drifters , lured by the prospect of a fast ruble , a free meal , a ride somewhere . a few were decent youths , persuaded that the lanky man needed some favor , or that he could give them a lift where they were going . the only relative who never misses a session is vladimir kulibatsky , a slight , 35 year old laborer whose 17 year old sister , lyudmila alekseyeva , fell in mr . chikatilo 's clutches on aug . 7 , 1984 , after trying to visit her brother . mr . kulibatsky sits quietly , a disturbed man for whom his sister was the closest friend he had . whoever they were , wherever they chose to follow mr . chikatilo , the end was terribly similar . in some isolated , wooded spot , he would suddenly pounce with with a madman 's violent strength , savaging his victims with his knife , his hands and his teeth until his terrible needs were satisfied . his crimes remembered in his testimony , mr . chikatilo described himself as a " poisoned wolf . " he asserted that he never planned to kill , but that he would be seized with shaking and shivering and would lose control . haunting details emerge as the judge reads on . from mr . chikatilo 's testimony " the boy bit the finger of my right hand . i remember him well . " mr . chikatilo remembered his crimes well . he detailed three more killings , though the police have been unable to find enough corroboration to confirm them . more important for mr . burakov , the detective for whom the hunt for the serial_killer became an obsession , was a killing mr . chikatilo denied . she was a young woman for whose rape and murder another man was tried and executed . when the killings continued , the suspicion spread that an innocent man had been shot , but now , mr . burakov said , that seems less likely . the killings began in 1978 , when mr . chikatilo was 42 , and they reached their most terrible proportions in 1984 . eight bodies were found in august 1984 alone . most of the killings were in rostov , but chikatilo also killed in leningrad , moscow and five other cities from ukraine to uzbekistan . the manhunt swelled into one of the biggest in soviet history 55 officers and experts worked full time on the case , and mr . burakov filled a filing cabinet with 25 , 000 names of potential suspects . judge is 'wrung out' mr . chikatilo was actually picked up by the police in 1984 , but despite considerable evidence against him , a botch up in blood typing forced the police to set him free . he was arrested finally on nov . 20 , 1990 , after he was spotted in the vicinity of a killing . the day 's session winds up , and judge akubzhanov is back in his tiny office , munching on a sandwich from his briefcase and staring into the distance . " you see , i 'm wrung out , and this was an easy day , " he said . " there 's never been such a case in russian jurisprudence . i 'm 41 , i 've been a judge 15 years and i get all the worst crimes . but the worst i 've had to date is a man who killed four girls . "

has a location of russia

moscow_state_university , an architectural and ideological monolith towering above the country 's capital , has been left an orphan . the ideology that fathered it , at least in its current incarnation , is comatose . the state that nurtured it has passed away . but it retains a stubborn devotion to its progenitors . courses like the once required history of atheism are gone , but many of the same men and women who stood behind the lectern then are still there , teaching new offerings like history of religion . the men and women who were once listed as experts in " scientific communism " now call themselves " politologs , " or political_scientists . a new charter , decentralizing the school 's command management , has been written and approved by the faculty . but the rector , anatoly a . logunov , who has run the school for 14 years , has yet to adopt it . refusing to let go demands are cresting for the retirement of mr . logunov , who came to the university with the blessing of mikhail suslov , the communist_party 's chief ideologist during the now discredited era of stagnation before the rise to power of president mikhail s . gorbachev . but mr . logunov hangs grimly on . many expect his retirement in the next year , if not in the next month , but he has given no indication he intends to fulfill these expectations . during the days of the august coup , when mr . logunov and other top officials were on vacation , the university 's other leaders remained silent , an act that may provide the stimulus for an overhaul of the academic bureaucracy . it is a perilous time for an institution that once stood at the top of the ivy_league of the soviet educational establishment . although a system of high prestige institutes , unfamiliar in american academic life , shared in the university 's high reputation , it still retained a place above the rest , much as the university building stands out against the moscow skyline from atop lenin hills . the massive central building , last of seven wedding_cake structures in moscow that are the signature tune of stalinist architecture , was the alma_mater of many communist comers , most notable among them mr . gorbachev . now , to be a communist no longer means to be a comer . but the school is still grasping for a new creed , and several professors and students interviewed during a recent trip to the university said the zest for learning is being supplanted by a zest for earning . " the interest of students in education has fallen off dramatically , compared to five years ago , " said nikolai zlobin , a 34 year old docent the equivalent of a tenured associate professor on the history faculty . " it used to be considered prestigious to be part of the university . not anymore . " what 's the good of economists , if they do n't know what a market is ? " he asked . " what 's the good of historians , if their basic knowledge is the history of the communist_party of the soviet_union ? the first thing we have to do is restore the status of the university as a place that produces highly qualified people to do things that are useful in real life . " two weeks ago , a rump caucus of history professors held a news conference to defend lenin , the founder of the now extinct soviet_state . such events notwithstanding , a cadre of reform minded professors , mostly from the sciences , are trying to jump start a revolution among the 70 , 000 students , faculty and administrators , trying to get the new charter approved so individual academic departments can take power in the university the way the republics have taken power in the country . but it is not easy amid the glum , gray uncertainty that succeeded the euphoria over the failed coup . in the last two years , some professors' paychecks have been held up by financial tangles . other professors have taken extended leaves to teach in western_europe or the united_states , and increasing numbers of students are deserting academic life to find a place in fledgling commercial enterprises . the statistics that might bear out such apparent trends are hard to come by , though the trends were discussed repeatedly in conversations with supporters of change , with professors still loyal to the communist_party , and with students here , whose words all produced a sense that academic life in general , and life at m.g.u . ( pronounced em gay ooo ) in particular , has fallen on hard times . it is not clear where the university 's next budget will come from . at the moment , the school is looking for 50 million rubles to supplement the 230 million granted it by the old central state structures , according to valery v . lunin , a chemistry professor who is also a member of the parliament of the russian federated republic and a leading exponent of radical restructuring of the academic bureaucracy here . as for the next budget , he said , " we need more than double that amount , nearly half a million rubles . " he hopes to get it from the government of boris n . yeltsin , president of the russian_federation , on whose territory the university is situated . " we 're in a very bad situation , particularly in our dorms , " mr . lunin said . " there are broken windows , ancient furniture . and there are other material needs , like the equipment necessary to keep our science up to date . " politics and potatoes he said the weakened financial foundation of the institution , plus the opportunity to work abroad , " has led many professors to seek jobs abroad to take on posts for extended periods , particularly the mathematicians . " mr . zlobin , who works with a two year old group of professors and students called the community political center , said students are concerned that academic life is a financial dead end . in the mid 1980 's , the undergraduate student body numbered 28 , 000 , he said , but the figure is closer to 23 , 000 now . and , although m.g.u . students were very much a part of the ad_hoc civilian army that went to defend the barricades around the russian_parliament on the nights of aug . 19 and 20 , politics is not the activity of choice here . " many of us are still studying potatoes , " one student said wryly . every year , there is a so called voluntary monthlong exodus of about 20 percent of the students to collective farms , where they help gather in the harvest . while this harvesting is not technically required anymore , and many students beg off with notes from their doctors , those who do not harvest potatoes are given other non academic work , like filing , said mr . zlobin . another said that he and his friends have no more yen for politics than they have for potatoes . " you know what braudel writes , " said 19 year old ivan volkov , a second year student , referring to the french historian fernand braudel . " you can put some really delicious ingredients in a soup , and people will say how good it tastes . then , the more they get used to it , the less delicious it is . it 's like that with politics . three years ago , when the idea of political participation was new , there was a lot of interest . but it 's not new anymore . people have their own things to do . " many of his contemporaries are working on informal , extracurricular majors in contemporary finance . a bulletin_board in the school 's central dormitory overflows with classified advertising . one card offers a " turkish sweater " for 750 to 800 rubles , no small price in a nation where the average worker in a government enterprise has a salary of about 300 rubles a month . a pair of german hiking boots go for 1 , 450 rubles , a kiev brand camera for 800 . re evaluating marxism " i 'm not rejecting marxism , " he said in an interview this weekend . " the question is , what is marxism ? now we know there can be lots of interperetations of marxism . which of them are right , which of them are adequate , that 's another question . " the question is how to re evaluate things , " he said . " you can do what some people do , and simply substitute pluses for minuses and minuses for pluses in your equations . whatever was good yesterday is bad today , whatever was bad yesterday is good today . i do n't think that brings us any closer to the world we 're living in right now . " mr . zlobin said " when everything was going slowly , all gorbachev 's reforms were beginning , people could cope with things , they had some idea how things were going to work out . since the coup no one has any idea what 's going to happen tomorrow , much less how this will all turn out . so people do n't think they can have much influence . " mostly , " he said , " they 're just trying to figure out how to get along without getting caught under the wheels of history . "

has a location of russia

president_bush and president vladimir_putin of russia will have much to discuss when they sit down in st . petersburg today iraq , terrorism , nuclear_arsenals , nato expansion . it is vital , however , that they also address russia 's mounting health crisis . as mr . putin has pointed out in two of his four state of the union messages , russia faces shocking demographic trends . for every 10 babies born , 17 russians die . the government predicts that the population will decrease 30 percent to 40 percent by 2050 . and even these dismal figures may be too optimistic , as they are based on western_european models of public_health and not the russian reality of widespread substance_abuse and tuberculosis and pending aids epidemics . although russia 's h.i.v . problem , for example , does n't now compare to a country like botswana with its 20 percent infection rate , we are seeing some cities with 5 percent of adult men infected , meaning cases in women will soon rise and the country may well follow the african pattern . how bad are things ? take a look at a few statistics and projections from the russian government , international health groups and russian experts population . today 145 million . 2050 estimate 101 million . fertility . today 1 . 25 children per woman . 2050 estimate 1.6 to 1 . 75 per woman . ( 2 . 15 children per woman are needed to maintain a population . ) h.i.v . cases . today the official russian figure is 240 , 000 the united_nations aids organization estimates 750 , 000 to 1.2 million . 2020 estimate 5.3 million to 14 . 5 million . aids deaths . total to date 593 . 2010 estimate 72 , 000 to 120 , 000 each year . 2020 estimate 252 , 000 to 648 , 000 each year . deaths by alcohol poisoning . 1991 16 , 100 . 2001 41 , 100 . tuberculosis cases . today the official russian estimate is 135 , 000 the world_health_organization estimates 196 , 000 . tuberculosis deaths in 2001 . russia 29 , 000 . united_states 781 . heart_disease ( deaths per 100 , 000 people in 2001 ) . russia 893 . united_states 352 . current life_expectancy . russian men average 58 . 2 years , women 72 years . american men average 74 years , women 79 years . odds that a man will live to age 60 . russia 55 percent . united_states 88 percent . president_bush 's 15 billion aids package for africa and the caribbean is welcome , but americans should recognize that the difficulties russia faces may be almost as great . and the russian deterioration may come with greater consequences . epidemics invite chaos , and that 's the last thing we want in a struggling democracy with huge arsenals of nuclear , chemical and biological_weapons . how can we help ? russia needs money and outside experts to analyze its problems , educate officials and train health workers . england , japan and the scandinavian countries have been assisting as well , and could do more . by 2020 , the russian aids program will need 28 . 5 billion for medications alone . of course , this aid could be made contingent on russia being more accurate and forthcoming with its health statistics china 's sars cover up was a warning of how important transparency on diseases is in our interconnected world . the bush_administration is certainly aware of russia 's condition secretary of state colin_powell repeatedly brought up russia 's skyrocketing aids rates with officials in moscow earlier this month . at today 's summit meeting , mr . bush can start turning that concern into a commitment . murray feshbach , a senior scholar at the woodrow wilson international center for scholars , is author of ''russia 's health and demographic crises . ''

has a location of russia

prime_minister viktor s . chernomyrdin flew today to the black_sea resort of sochi to meet with president boris n . yeltsin for what the official russian news_agency itar_tass described as " important and difficult " talks . the meeting , shown tonight on the evening news , came after a weekend of rumors that had raised questions not only about mr . yeltsin 's physical and political health , but also about his whereabouts . the president flew to sochi for a two week working vacation on march 14 . aleksandr n . yakovlev , chief of russian broadcasting , told an italian newspaper last friday that mr . yeltsin had returned to moscow . today , mr . yakovlev said he had been mistaken . " he intended to come , but did n't , " mr . yakovlev said through a spokesman . a report about a supposed conspiracy against mr . yeltsin , published in a russian newspaper on friday , gave an added twist to the rumors . analyzed in detail on the influential sunday television news program itogi , the report was dismissed as a fake by several of the supposed conspirators , including mayor yuri m . luzhkov of moscow . acting procurator general aleksei ilyushenko , whose job is roughly equivalent to that of the attorney_general in the united_states , began an investigation today into the document at the request of one of the figures named in it , deputy vice prime_minister oleg n . soskovets . the report asserted that a group of leading political figures had been plotting to declare mr . yeltsin physically unfit to rule , and to begin procedures to transfer power to mr . chernomyrdin . although the report was been widely dismissed , political analysts here were interpreting its publication as an attempt to sow mistrust in the top echelons of power , and to create a tension in the capital at a time when the russian leader once again was absent . describing this incident as " an ordinary political provocation , " the daily newspaper izvestia , which is generally strongly pro yeltsin , tonight criticized the president 's increasingly secretive and defensive style of leadership . discussion of reasons banned " nervous commotion begins when the president is either absent or is not politically active , " the newspaper said . " it is not a secret that the president especially in recent months found himself in the 'shadows' more often that the situation in the country demands . any discussion about the reasons for this have been a banned topic in the mass_media , and such discussions were declared non patriotic . " even the official news_agency itar_tass tonight underscored the poor timing of mr . yeltsin 's vacation , with a daunting list of untended business as reported by the press " the opposition has stepped up political activity , the international_monetary_fund announced it was wary about extending a promised loan to russia , new customs tariffs were upsetting both suppliers and consumers alike , strikes continue , the elections in the regions ran amok " and finally , " yeltsin 's health was allegedly worsening to a degree making another 'palace coup' possible . "

has a location of russia

a pro guerrilla web_site quoted the chechen rebel leader aslan maskhadov as urging chechnya 's residents to reject a new constitution for the province in a kremlin backed referendum scheduled for sunday . the web_site , www . kavkazcenter . com , quoted mr . maskhadov as saying that russia was ''trying to force us to vote at gunpoint'' in the referendum , which has been heavily promoted by the pro russian authorities in the region . russia says the proposed constitution would give chechens broad political freedoms while remaining part of the russian state the guerrillas say nothing short of total independence for chechnya is acceptable . michael wines ( nyt )

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the russian mr . right is 30 , sexually_active but monogamous . he is healthy and does not smoke or drink . and he has two children . this is the ideal for anonymous sperm donors set by russia 's largest private infertility clinic . such a man is hard to find . there are plenty of russian men who have fathered two children . but the dearth of men who neither smoke nor drink nor sleep around is not only something russian women have complained about for generations , it is now the lament of russian infertility specialists . " we do n't get volunteers , " said dr . valery m . zdanovsky , director of the center , eko , which opened five years ago . " we pay all our donors , and we never have enough . " the clinic , which pays donors about 15 , screens them for venereal disease and aids . smoking and drinking are mostly taken for granted . patients' husbands and clinic employees are often pressed into service . clinics like eko are facing a rising tide of infertile women . most are married , but in the last few years , there have been more and more single , older women who want a baby and prefer an anonymous donor . they are ready to pay for treatments ranging from artificial_insemination to in vitro fertilization , techniques that until recently were little known in russia and socially taboo . there are only 12 such fertility clinics in a country of 150 million , and demand is growing almost as fast as the russian birth_rate is declining . taboos are fading , but not as quickly . dr . zdanovsky said that his clinic treated more than 2 , 500 patients a year and that its success rate was close to 25 percent , the same as in europe and the united_states . but he added that he could not be sure of the figures , because so many of the clinic 's patients , particularly those from the provinces , receive the treatments , go home and , desperate to keep their mission a secret , never call in again . but some women are becoming more open about their quest . " i want a baby more than anything in the world , " said antonina sokhach , 37 , a social scientist from chita , siberia , who was at the clinic for her fourth attempt at in vitro fertilization . she grew tearful talking about it . " all my money and strength are going to this , " she said . she said her husband , an aeroflot pilot , left her after she became pregnant during her last treatment and miscarried after eight weeks . she seemed sanguine about joining the huge ranks of russian single mothers , saying with a shrug , " men are much weaker than women . " if she becomes pregnant , she said , she plans to move from siberia to her native ukraine , where her mother and sister will help her raise the child . " i do n't want to know who the donor is , but i 'm not worried , " mrs . sokhach said with a smile . " the male genes alone do not determine the character of a child . " mrs . sokhach said she was not sure what had made her infertile , but blamed the winters . " i lived in western_siberia for 10 years , " she said . " i think the cold prevented me from getting pregnant . " one of her doctors , aleksandr s . dogobetsky , said it was more likely that she suffered from pelvic inflammation , a result of two abortions . dr . zdanovsky said one of the major causes of infertility in russia was scarring caused by abortion , which is still one of the most common methods of birth_control here . some women have had as many as nine . in 1992 in moscow , official statistics estimated that there were 300 abortions for every 100 live births . there are no reliable statistics on infertility in russia , but the birth_rate , 1.4 million babies in 1993 , is down a whopping 44 percent from 1983 . for several generations , economic circumstances have forced russian women to have small families , often only one child . now women in their late 30 's and 40 's are looking to new technologies for their last hope of a second child . " my daughter is 22 , and i was 18 when she was born , " said a 40 year old woman who quit working two years ago to be a housewife to her newly successful husband , a banker . " i want a second chance . " treatment in russia is not as expensive as in the west eko charges about 600 for artificial_insemination , and in vitro is about 4 , 000 but it is too costly for the average russian . eko 's waiting room was filled mostly with well groomed professionals , but dr . zdanovksy said the clinic offered free treatment to widows , mothers of sons killed in combat and women who lost a child under the age of 16 . almost all the medical equipment is made in the west . but the clinic has retained a russian sense of privacy . there is one examining room with four beds with stirrups . sperm donors make their contribution in an unlocked closet sized room with fading nude pinups for company . there are other things that might appear jarring in the west . dr . zdanovsky explained that when husbands are discovered to have a deficiency , they are invited to bring their brothers and cousins to provide sperm for artificial_insemination of their in law . " if the husband wishes , we do it without telling the wife that it is not her husband 's sperm , " he said . " we do n't deceive her , really , because genetically , it is just like his sperm . " but he said he would never give a patient artificial_insemination without informing the husband . " that , " he said gravely , " would be lying . "

has a location of russia

as nasa officials testified that it was safe to send more americans to live on the troubled mir_space_station , members of the house science committee said today that further stays aboard the russian craft posed unacceptable risks . ''there has been sufficient evidence put before this hearing to raise doubts about the safety of continued american long term presence on the mir , '' said representative f . james_sensenbrenner_jr . , republican of wisconsin , the committee chairman . ''what will it take for russia to decide that mir has passed its prime or the united_states to determine that it 's not safe ? '' he said . ''does someone have to get killed ? '' frank culbertson , manager of the mir shuttle program for the national_aeronautics_and_space_administration , told the committee that agency officials were aware of drawbacks in dealing with mir , but still felt there was value in completing the last two of seven planned long term stays on the station by american astronauts . acknowledging that mir has suffered several major mishaps this year , including a fire , a collision with an unmanned supply ship and repeated problems with its computers and life_support systems , mr . culbertson said american astronauts could still conduct useful research and gain experience in operating a space_station . nasa safety managers have given preliminary approval to sending an american astronaut , david wolf , to mir next thursday aboard the shuttle atlantis to replace michael_foale , who has been aboard the russian station since may . a final decision will be made next tuesday , he said . mr . culbertson said many of mir 's reported problems had been exaggerated , such as the station 's tumbling out of control when its main computer has crashed . approaching a large model of mir in the hearing room , mr . culbertson , a former astronaut , demonstrated the slow movement of the station without computer guidance , saying that at its highest rotation rate it took mir six minutes to complete a rotation . ''if the computer fails , mir does not spin like a top , '' he said . mr . culbertson said the astronauts being sent to mir were his friends , adding , ''i take the safety of my friends very seriously . '' roberta l . gross , nasa 's inspector general , said , however , that she was still concerned about mir 's safety , based on an assessment she made at mr . sensenbrenner 's request that was completed last month . she said too much of the safety analysis of the project was concentrated at the johnson_space_center in houston and career employees there might be reluctant to give frank assessments to their bosses . mr . sensenbrenner , joined by the committee 's ranking democrat , george e . brown jr . of california , called for the nasa administrator , daniel goldin , to decide whether to send astronauts to mir and to accept responsibility if anything went wrong .

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the " myocardial_ischemia " that sent president boris n . yeltsin to the hospital yesterday for the second time in three months is a common , serious heart condition that affects millions of people around the world . myocardial_ischemia describes a lack of oxygen rich blood to meet the heart 's needs to pump blood . such ischemia usually produces the chest_pains of angina , although aides to mr . yeltsin , who is 64 , did not use the word angina . ischemia ( pronounced iss kee mee ya ) can occur anywhere in the body . it is described by its anatomical location , and examples include abdominal ischemia or the transient ischemic attack that can signal a stroke . aides said mr . yeltsin 's ischemia was caused by heart_disease . but the information that russian officials released yesterday about mr . yeltsin 's diagnosis and condition was skimpy , as it was in the four weeks this summer when the president was treated for myocardial_ischemia . until his doctors provide " a final diagnosis , " expected today , doctors in the united_states said the details were too sketchy to assess the seriousness of his condition and the treatment options . among such options are drugs to relieve pain or to reduce the risk of blood_clots , coronary_bypass surgery , and more minimally invasive procedures like angioplasty , a procedure in which a balloon tipped tube is threaded through an artery in the groin or arm to remove the blockage . a puzzle in the information provided so far was a statement from mr . yeltsin 's closest aide , viktor v . ilyushin , who said , " an operation is out of the question . " the statement left unsaid whether the reason is that mr . yeltsin 's heart condition is not amenable to surgical treatment , that he has another medical condition that precludes major surgery , or that political considerations are at work . myocardial_ischemia is generally serious because it usually indicates blockage in one or more of the coronary_arteries that nourish the heart . the blockage is generally due to a buildup of fat deposits from a process known as atherosclerosis . atherosclerosis is believed to be the underlying cause of heart attacks , and it can lead to abnormal heart rhythms and sudden death . russian officials did not say mr . yeltsin had suffered a heart_attack , or a myocardial infarct . sometimes doctors must wait a day or two to monitor electrocardiograms and blood tests to determine whether a patient has had a heart_attack . mr . yeltsin is at risk for a heart_attack because he is overweight , eats a rich diet and gets little exercise . in april , a spokesman said he had high_blood_pressure , which , if untreated , can also increase the risk of a heart_attack . before treating myocardial_ischemia , patients in american hospitals often undergo an x_ray procedure known as a coronary angiogram , or arteriogram , in which a radio opaque chemical is injected into a blood_vessel in the groin or arm and flows to the heart to outline the contour of the coronary_arteries . if the damage is limited to a certain area , a patient might undergo an angioplasty , which can relieve angina pain . but the blockage returns in about one third of patients . myocardial_ischemia can change in severity . when it does , it is called unstable angina , and may require a change in therapy . among the many possible explanations for mr . yeltsin 's latest attack of ischemia is a failed angioplasty , if he had one last summer during the previous attack . myocardial_ischemia can also result from spasms of a coronary_artery that is unaffected by atherosclerosis . but spasm is a much less common cause of ischemia than atherosclerosis . among the many other causes are congenital defects . in his autobiography , " against the grain , " mr . yeltsin said that as a youth he had collapsed with a heart_rate of 150 when he exerted himself while suffering from tonsillitis . doctors prescribed at least four months of bed rest . he said he had rejected the advice , made a rope from sheets and escaped from the hospital . his doctor later told him his heart was in excellent shape .

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anastasiya myskina , the french open champion , accused gq magazine in a federal lawsuit yesterday of failing to prevent a photographer from reselling two topless pictures from a photo shoot to a russian magazine . some of the photographs taken by mark seliger appeared in the october 2002 issue of gq . but this year 's july august issue of the russian magazine medved includes a topless shot of her , wearing jeans , on the cover , and three other photographs inside , including another topless one , according to the lawsuit . myskina , who is seeking at least 8 million in damages , said that the defendants gq its owner , cond_nast publications and seliger had agreed that the photographs would appear only in gq and could not be resold . her lawyers said in the lawsuit that the photos in medved ''are highly embarrassing and have caused ms . myskina great emotional distress and economic harm . '' the suit , filed in united_states_district_court in manhattan , accuses seliger of profiting from her rise to prominence and it says that gq and cond_nast should have known that seliger and his studio had sold the pictures to medved without myskina 's permission and ''had a duty to prevent'' the sale . maury perl , a cond_nast spokeswoman , declined to comment , and a call to seliger 's studio seeking a response was not returned . ''it 's not a question of being photographed nude , '' alexander berkovich , myskina 's lawyer , said in a telephone interview from his office in new york . ''it 's about a decision that others made without her permission . '' the topless photographs , he said , were not supposed to be published . ''it was a total surprise to anastasiya and to me , '' berkovich said . berkovich said that by selling the topless photograph to medved , the defendants were showing that they ''want to capitalize on her status . those photographs did n't show up for two years . '' myskina , 23 , is the fourth ranked women 's tennis_player in the world . tennis

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president boris n . yeltsin of russia made another characteristically abrupt retreat from public life today , this time stirring a sense of mystery and diplomatic risk on the eve of the middle_east conference here of leading nations whose economic aid he has been courting . mr . yeltsin has canceled all meetings for two days and left moscow to focus on domestic problems and a coming foreign mission , according to the office of the russian_president , who has previously disappeared on sudden restorative retreats that caused world anxiety about the stability of this troubled nation and its leader . aside from any perceived slight to the conference officials , his unexpected departure to an undisclosed location heightened the focus on mr . yeltsin 's executive style and resiliency as he prepared to depart later this week for another trip to the united_states . he will be intent on reassuring the world , at the united_nations and in a white_house visit , that russia deserves moral and economic support as it tries to lead the republics of the fallen soviet_union in a new commonwealth_of_independent_states . mr . yeltsin 's chief aides have said they prefer to sacrifice parts of his busy agenda occasionally to see him better prepared for important missions . but the tactic invariably proves unsettling in this crisis bedeviled land and in the world 's stock markets . mr . yeltsin , who received mixed personal reviews in two previous visits to the united_states , will resume his kremlin schedule on wednesday and meet with secretary of states james a . baker 3d , the president 's office said . " circumstances arose which required his departure from moscow , " his spokesman , pavel voshchanov , said , again denying speculation that mr . yeltsin might be seriously ill from heart_disease or alcohol_abuse . " these rumors are absolutely foolish and are being circulated by those who do not want yeltsin to be russian_president . " his agenda has lately been heavy with the pressures of trying to create a free_market_economy from the ashes of communism . the first step , switching to free floating consumer prices after 74 years of drastically suppressed prices through state subsidies , has incurred the public wrath and loss of personal popularity that mr . yeltsin predicted when he ordered the change on jan . 2 as an unavoidable necessity . his other major headache has been in trying to encourage enough economic and military cooperation among republics in the new commonwealth to win some early credit and aid from overseas . nationalist minded ukraine has been confronting mr . yeltsin with complaints about the severity and suddenness of his free_market plans and with demands for a substantial part of former soviet_army and navy units for building a separate military force . in again secluding himself , mr . yeltsin left his domestic constituency once more speculating on the personality and staying power of their broad shouldered , mercurial leader , who proved strong enough to stand up to old communist_party enemies in august and deliver mikhail s . gorbachev from a kremlin coup . the last thing needed by mr . yeltsin is another bout of personality scrutiny and increased doubts about his fitness by the world at_large . although his initial visit to washington was marred by press charges of buffoonery and bibulousness , mr . yeltsin 's second visit after his heroic role in the failed coup reflected more favor and respect . one concern that has been omnipresent but rarely mentioned in his public scheduling has been personal security . the russian_president , who admits to concern about vengeful party hard_liners , is sometimes protected by portable shields in public . among his canceled appointments today was a meeting with foreign_minister michio_watanabe of japan , whose economic aid mr . yeltsin has been seeking . the interfax news_agency said russian foreign ministry officials were insisting that his decision to miss the meeting and head out of the city was mainly because of other pressing issues and not frustration at japan 's linking of foreign aid to regaining four kurile islands that were seized by the soviets at the end of world_war_ii . a day 's rest ordered in testing the social trauma of his price liberalizations , mr . yeltsin undertook an ambitious tour of the russian provinces this month and was then ordered to take a day 's rest by his doctors , with his office insisting that he suffered fatigue but no serious ailment . in a previous sudden disappearance , his aides said that although mr . yeltsin needed treatment for a " minor " heart disorder , he was in good physical condition . the russian_president , who is 60 years old , had previously suffered a back ailment that caused him to withdraw for a while from public life . that established something of a now familiar habit of encouraging a sense of mystery that he might then dispel upon returning with a flourish to deal with a pressing issue . in some of his most recent tours on state and commonwealth business , members of the soviet press entourage have said mr . yeltsin seemed to be heavily imbibing alcohol at times . his aides have repeatedly rejected such talk . mr . yeltsin himself , strapping and ebullient , has been the best defense against such rumors as he often puts in long public days wrangling with parliament and traveling the republic . " he is in good health , " insisted his spokesman , mr . voshchanov . " he 's in more than good health . he is in excellent sports condition , " the official added , referring to mr . yeltsin 's playing tennis and volleyball as often as time permits . absence is criticized mr . yeltsin had not been expected to play an active role in the two day middle_east peace conference opening here on tuesday , a meeting conducted at the foreign ministers' level . but some of those arriving for the conference remarked on a certain crudity of timing in the russian leader 's announcement that he must suddenly leave moscow . they noted as well his missed opportunity to extend a personal early welcome of some sort in the interests of the glaring economic needs of russia and the other commonwealth members that have been lobbying for extensive foreign aid from many of the nations represented here . after mr . gorbachev resigned as the soviet president , russian officials insisted that mr . yeltsin would offer the same sort of support and enthusiasm for the conference as did mr . gorbachev , its chief proponent . it has been obvious , though , that mr . yeltsin has neither the global wanderlust of mr . gorbachev nor a cornucopia of diplomatic concessions to offer in return for foreign aid , since considerable ground had already been yielded in disarmament agreements with washington . still , apart from the focus on mr . yeltsin 's decision to stay out of the kremlin for the next two days , the arriving american delegation was according considerable credit to the russian_president and the leaders of the three other former soviet nuclear republics belarus , ukraine and kazakhstan for carrying out the disarmament treaties .

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the kremlin announced today that boris n . yeltsin had recovered from his cold . the russian_president 's spokesman , vyacheslav kostikov , said the condition that forced mr . yeltsin to cancel his schedule early this week was brought on by air_conditioning . mr . yeltsin had retreated to his luxurious , un air_conditioned dacha west of moscow last friday to recuperate , and most of his countrymen were not in the least bit surprised . air_conditioning kills . in russia , everyone knows that . " air_conditioning ca n't make you sick , " anya rodionova , a receptionist at the sleek , well chilled offices of belcom , an american telecommunications company , said . " unless of course it hits you on your back . " miss rodionova said she never sits with her back to an air_conditioner in her office . neither does tatyana orlovskaya , a russian lawyer at the american firm , steptoe johnson , which like many other western firms , still clings to the foreign notion that air_conditioning is desirable . on hot days , she keeps her window open and her desk facing the unit . " cold air on the spine can cause radiculitis , " she said , referring to an inflammation of the spinal nerves . " i know people who can no longer bend over . " air_conditioning is still a rare , and mostly unnecessary comfort in a capital where the average temperature in august is around 70 degrees . ten years ago , the best way to determine where the minister 's office was from the outside of a government building was to seek out the air_conditioning unit sticking out the window . now , along with satellite dishes , microwave ovens and dishwashers , air_conditioners are creeping into ordinary russian office buildings and homes . but many view the phenomenon with alarm . for centuries , russians have feared drafts as a key cause of colds and influenza . to many , air_conditioning is merely a high tech , stealth equivalent of a bone chilling draft . " i think it is a wide spread notion here that air_conditioning causes colds , " igor sidorenko said carefully . " and its true , they can . " mr . sidorenko is the deputy director of sherwood limited , a moscow air_conditioner store that a year ago began importing models from israel . he quickly added that the secret to avoiding illness was in finding the " comfort zone . " his brochures carry graphs of the " comfort zone " that recommend a median temperature of about 75 degrees and 50 percent humidity . temperatures below 68 are " reckless . " he said mr . yeltsin had himself to blame . then he corrected himself . " his advisers should have read the directions more carefully . " interestingly , most russians interviewed did not express skepticism or concern about mr . yeltsin 's sudden illness . earlier this spring , the news that a bad flu kept mr . yeltsin out of sight for several weeks prompted rumors and a round of unsubstantiated reports of an attempted_coup . this summer , there was no such ado . possibly , that was because to most russians , claiming a cold to skip work and go to the dacha is an entirely plausible move . air_conditioning has a way of widening the cultural gap between east and west . westerners are often baffled by remedies that remain common in russia , such as pepper vodka , mustard plasters and cupping . there are some homeopathic remedies involving garlic that to americans verge on the sociopathic . russians also swear by swaddling infants in blankets and placing them on balconies in subzero weather to temper their constitutions to the cold . in russia , the average price of a window unit is 650 . tanya sidorova , 23 , a saleswoman at ag klimateknika , said most clients were rich businessmen and bankers . and miss sidorova , an air_conditioning expert who majored in refrigeration studies at the moscow academy of applied biotechnology , formerly the meat and dairy institute , said she did n't believe an air_conditioner had made the president sick . " it is impossible , " she said firmly . " unless he came indoors directly from a workout . "

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when she gets back home and back in shape , dr . shannon w . lucid , a 53 year old biochemist who has been in space longer than any other american and longer than any woman of any nation , plans to ride her bike , visit a bookstore and go rollerblading with her daughter . for the past half year she has been dealing with the exigencies of sponge baths , space shampoo and dehydrated food in weightlessness 240 miles up , orbiting earth at 17 , 000 miles an hour . she has shown little but mirth at being in orbit much longer than expected , working on an array of scientific projects and helping build cooperation in east west space ventures . but it is no secret that she is longing to get back to her family and a few creature_comforts after living in a russian space outpost seven weeks longer than planned , her return delayed by a hurricane and shuttle problems . ( ''i miss things like potato_chips and junk food , '' she said in one of her broadcasts home . ) yesterday , her terrestrial hopes came close to fulfillment as the shuttle atlantis docked with the mir station to pick her up and drop off her replacement , john e . blaha . ( page a25 . ) dr . lucid appears fit , relaxed and close to her normal weight of 150 pounds . nasa officials have paid special attention to her weight because of the experience of her only other american predecessor on the mir_space_station , dr . norman thagard . dr . thagard , a 52 year old physician , was thin at the start of his four month mission and came back to earth more than 17 pounds lighter , causing some officials at the national_aeronautics_and_space_administration to fear for his health . it took him several months to recover his weight . in orbit , dr . lucid has been nourished by not only a customized menu of meals ( as well as a limited supply of junk food ) but also by daily contact with her family via electronic mail . occasionally , she also talks to them in televised sessions . ''that has made all the difference , '' she said in another news conference , discussing family communications . ''that 's just super . i have n't lost contact with them . i know what 's going on in their lives . '' and they know what has been needed in hers . her two daughters sent a bag of books on a russian supply ship . and for earthly use , they are keeping a scrapbook and a daily log of family events to help her enjoy the ones she missed . dr . lucid had planned to be home for the 21st birthday of her son , michael , on aug . 22 and for her daughter kawai 's 28th birthday today . ''but i told them we 'd make it up to them when i do get home , '' dr . lucid said . one thing the children have not missed much is her cooking . her other daughter , shandara , 26 , was once asked about the best meal made by her unculinary mother . she replied , ''domino 's . '' her son , who studies wildlife biology at texas tech university in lubbock , said in a telephone interview yesterday ''she says she wants to eat junk food and drink diet cokes and be cross at us . she said it 's a lot of work to stay in a good mood all the time . '' despite dr . lucid 's apparent good health and high spirits , nasa officials are eager to get her back on the ground and to begin a battery of medical tests to see how she held up under the unexpectedly long stay in weightlessness . nasa anticipates months of readjustment and lethargy and perhaps significant loss of calcium from her bones . mission controllers in houston traditionally wake up shuttle astronauts in the morning with music . this week , they played for the atlantis crew a recording of fontella bass 's 1965 hit ''rescue me , '' saying it was a message from dr . lucid . shannon wells was born on jan . 14 , 1943 , in shanghai , china , to american missionaries , joseph o . and myrtle wells , and grew up mainly in bethany , okla . during adolescence she became fascinated by stories of pioneers in the american west and studied hard to do some pioneering of her own . she graduated from bethany high_school in 1960 and received a chemistry degree from the university of oklahoma in 1963 . in 1967 , she married michael f . lucid , an oil company manager . she received a medical degree from the university of oklahoma in 1970 and a ph . d . in biochemistry from there in 1973 . an avid pilot , she was among the first six women selected by nasa in 1978 for astronaut training . she flew shuttle missions in 1985 , 1989 , 1991 and 1993 . now the most experienced member of either sex in the astronaut corps , she holds a number of orbital records . on march 22 she blasted off on an american shuttle for the mir station , two days later joining two russian astronauts , yuri onufrienko , 35 , and yuri usachev , 38 , the flight_engineer . she is the first american woman to fly aboard the russian outpost . she has pooh poohed questions about male chauvinism , saying she is a full member of the russian crew . but as a women she lives in a separate module of the 100 foot long outpost with its own lavatory . ''i do have all the privacy i need , '' she said , adding that she has missed hot showers . in july , when atlantis was grounded for six weeks to replace its booster_rockets , dr . lucid said she was untroubled by the delay but did talk of longing for things like m m 's . ''it goes without saying that i miss my family , '' she told reporters . ''there are a lot of little things i 've missed when i feel like it , going to the bookstore . '' three days later , on july 15 she broke dr . thagard 's american space endurance record of 115 days , 9 hours , 43 minutes . in august , she said , the news that nasa researchers had found what they believe to be evidence of ancient martian life ''filled up a whole conversation for us at supper time . '' the three talk in russian , but dr . lucid 's limited command of the language sometimes makes for balky conversations . her return home was delayed a second time on sept . 4 when hurricane fran caused officials to put off the shuttle 's launching . on sept . 7 , dr . lucid broke the women 's space endurance record set in 1995 by the russian astronaut elena kondakova . on monday , as the shuttle atlantis at belatedly roared into space to retrieve her , she told her family in a video link up ''it 's time to come home . '' with spirit , she added ''you can be assured i am not going to be on the wrong side of the hatch when they close it . '' woman in the news shannon wells lucid correction september 26 , 1996 , thursday a woman in the news article last thursday about dr . shannon w . lucid , the astronaut who has been in space longer than any other american , referred incorrectly to one of her advanced degrees . she has a ph . d . in biochemistry , not a medical degree .

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the russian authorities may have thought they would silence grigory pasko when they threw him into prison after he documented the navy 's nasty practice of dumping nuclear_waste at sea . but the crusading journalist has refused to go quietly . from behind the walls of a vladivostok jail , captain pasko has resorted to a time honored russian practice chronicling the dismal life inside the country 's overcrowded and disease infested prisons . unlike the prison works of aleksandr i . solzhenitsyn and other russian writers who often waited decades before their accounts of soviet gulags became known to the world , mr . pasko 's jailhouse diary can be found on one of the country 's most frequented internet sites on political news , http_www . polit . ru index dossier mayday the texts are a window not only into the arbitrary world of russian justice , but also into the mind of a man battling to maintain emotional equilibrium . ''he is a journalist , so he always tries to write about topics that interest him , '' his wife , galina morozova , said in a telephone interview from vladivostok . ''and he spends a lot of time absolutely alone in solitary_confinement . the best way to get rid of the solitude is to make some use of your talent and write about it . '' a career navy officer and military journalist , captain pasko , 37 , made a name for himself as an environmental crusader at boyevaya vakhta ( battle watch ) , the newspaper of russia 's pacific fleet . but what really worried the authorities was the freelance work he did for nhk , japan 's largest television_network . after nhk broadcast a report on russia 's dumping of nuclear_waste , the authorities began to clamp down . captain pasko was arrested in november 1997 and charged with selling the nation 's secrets . amnesty international has designated him a ''prisoner of conscience , '' and other human_rights groups have taken up his cause . a verdict in his pasko 's long running trial , at which the prosecutor is demanding a_12 year prison term , is expected this month . when he was hauled into the military courtroom in january , captain pasko shouted out , ''we will fight ! '' but there is little bravado in his prison essays . the first is titled ''cookie , '' slang for a first time prisoner . it is a set of survival tips for new prisoners and an informal dissertation on the sociology of russia 's jails . anybody determined to challenge russia 's authorities , captain pasko writes , should keep a large bag at home full of provisions , because he can be hauled off to jail at a moment 's notice . essential goods include an electric heater for boiling water , cans of food to compensate for the meager prison rations and a blanket . he warns that initial prolonged detention at a police station means threats and beatings , advising new prisoners to adopt the old adage of soviet spy movies say nothing and wait to be passed on to the next step in the chain of custody . ''you have to survive the first 72 hours , '' he writes . ''it 's the period when they can keep you there . to extend it they need to obtain special documents and they will have to provide you with a defense attorney . '' friends in the police are no help , merely a hindrance once they sense that the state wants a conviction , he warns . ''i am sorry for those who have friends in the militia , '' captain pasko wrote . ''that means additional evidence against you . '' between interrogations , the prisoner is kept in a ''preliminary confinement cell , '' a cage stuffed with other detainees with a rank toilet in the corner . later they are shifted to ''quarantine , '' where each is photographed , x rayed and subjected to painful blood tests with a thick needle . then it is on to an overcrowded prison ward where inmates sleep in shifts as their trials drag_on . while the prisons are dirty , noisy and pungent , the hardest part is not losing hope , as savvy prisoners forecast the long sentences likely to be handed down , regardless of whether the inmate is innocent or guilty . ''the memories about the relatively good life you had before , about your wife and children , put a lot of pressure on your mind , '' he said . ''just bear in mind that from now on you have nothing and nobody no apartment , no family , no car , no work or rewards . you are nobody . '' still , prisoners must survive , and captain pasko offers his own rules of prison etiquette . he recommends that inmates join a ''family , '' a small group of prisoners who try to look out for each other . parcels of food from home should be shared , to ease the strains of coexisting in such close quarters , but prisoners should be careful about sharing clothes , he says . nothing that is lent will ever be returned . captain pasko says he donated two sleeves from his sweater , which were used to fashion a crude ' 'mail rope'' for transmitting notes and small packets of tea and tobacco from cell to cell . but he drew the line at handing over his boots and pants to prisoners who insisted that they merely needed them for a trial appearance the next day . the most important rule involves communication . because cells are rife with informers , a prisoner should never talk about his case . captain pasko reports that he became so reticent that he even found it difficult to talk to his own lawyer . the pasko case underscores one of the paradoxes of modern day russia . while the collapse of the soviet_state and advent of computer technology has made the draconian censorship of soviet days all but impossible , the new russia is also a place where a muckraking reporter can be locked up for 19 months before he is pronounced innocent or guilty . certainly the prolonged wait seems to have taken its toll on journalists' morale . captain pasko has spent his recent months in solitary_confinement , isolated even from prison family . despite his messages to the world outside , he appears to have retreated further into himself and lost his zeal for doing battle with the authorities . his second prison writing excerpts from a book in progress about his experience in solitary_confinement is grim , metaphysical and fatalistic . recalling that he bought a copy of the criminal_code six months before he was arrested , captain pasko muses that his thoughts of jail , not his role as a journalistic gadfly , might have led to his imprisonment . ''i thought about it , and the thoughts came true , '' he wrote . he then briefly dared to hope that he could influence his fate by thinking positively . ''perhaps something written by me now will come true , '' he wrote . ''what if i put down something optimistic ? no , it will turn out to be false . ''

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lyudmila narozhilenko of russia , the 1991 world indoor champion in the women 's 60 meter_hurdles , tested positive for a banned substance in toronto and faces a four year suspension , a source said . the illegal substance was unknown , but it was learned that the positive test occurred feb . 13 at lievin , france , where narozhilenko equaled her world record of 7 . 69 seconds . narozhilenko was to compete at the world indoor_championships , which began yesterday at the toronto skydome . ( ap ) sports people track and field

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an astronaut aboard the mir_space_station mistakenly disconnected a critical cable today , disabling the guidance system that enables mir to gather solar_energy and causing yet another crisis for the trouble plagued craft . despite the accident , nasa announced today that it had granted permission for the american member of the crew , michael_foale , to train for a lengthy space walk to restore power from mir 's spektr module , which was damaged on june 25 in a collision with an unmanned cargo craft . after discovering the blunder today , ground_controllers at the mission_control_center outside moscow scrambled to conserve power on mir . ''shut it down ! shut it down ! '' yelled a controller as he urged the crew to turn off lights and climate control systems . using flashlights to find their way , the crew stumbled around in a clammy , darkened space_station . they were even forced to turn off the oxygen generating unit . nasa officials said several days' worth of oxygen is stored in tanks on the progress resupply vehicle is attached to mir . with this accident , the two russians and one american astronaut were back in almost the same situation as after the collision that damaged spektr . having shut down their communications , they were forced to shift to the soyuz space craft docked alongside to talk to ground control . those communications were not always pleasant . as the tension grew , russian ground_controllers lost patience with the fatigued crew . ''this is a kindergarten , '' vladimir solovyov , the mission director , muttered testily after an exchange with the crew . but the russian officials would not say which astronaut had made the mistake . for all of the problems , however , russian and american space officials stressed that the mishap was not life threatening . there were no plans to evacuate mir . indeed , russian and american officials still described the repair mission as one that is technically manageable and that can be performed safely . russian officials had hoped that the repairs could begin on july 24 or july 25 . now , however , they expect them to be delayed by several days at least . nasa will not make a formal decision on whether mr . foale will proceed with his space walk until he and aleksandr lazutkin , the russian flight_engineer on mir , carry out a full scale rehearsal in their space suits in a pressurized section of the space_station . frank culbertson , the former commander of the american space_shuttle , who oversees the american and russian cooperation on mir , emphasized today that mr . foale would have ample_opportunity to train on the space_station before undertaking the repair mission . the mission , he said , would pose ' 'minimal risk . '' still , the practice of flying american astronauts to mir on the space_shuttle and stationing them there has become a delicate political issue for the administration , which is eager to cooperate with the russians but is also under fire by some lawmakers who consider mir too dangerous . ''as far as we know right now , they have gotten control of things and there seems to be no immediate crisis , '' president_clinton said today in washington , referring to mir . mr . clinton said , however , that the united_states had not yet decided whether to send astronauts to mir on future missions . ''it 's too soon for me to draw a conclusion , '' he said . mr . foale is due to be replaced by another american astronaut , wendy b . lawrence , in september . the first step in preparing for the repair mission is to recharge the solar batteries so they restart mir 's guidance , oxygen generation and other systems . that will take several days . the crew is firing the jets of the soyuz space craft docked alongside the space_station to reorient mir and direct its solar arrays at the sun . they are also manually turning those arrays . mr . solovyov said mir would be fully reoriented by friday morning , moscow time . if all goes well , he said , the solar batteries would be sufficiently recharged to reactivate the space_station 's gyrodines by saturday . those gyroscope like devices would enable mir to maintain its orientation without drawing on the fuel in soyuz . because soyuz is used to return the russian cosmonauts to earth and also serves as an emergency escape craft for the entire crew , the amount of fuel left in its tanks is key . mr . culbertson said he had been informed by the russians that there is more than enough fuel . soyuz has roughly 1 , 100 pounds of fuel . some 440 pounds are needed to return to earth . that leaves 660 pounds for maneuvering mir . each of the occasional maneuvers , mr . culbertson said , expends about 30 to 45 pounds of fuel , meaning fuel is not an immediate problem . the repair mission will also be delayed because the crew has been instructed to take several days off and get more rest . that is an implicit recognition that fatigue is believed to have played a role in the mistake today . the russian crew members were reported to have had a sleepless night . ''this was purely human_error , '' mr . solovyov said . the problem began when one of the astronauts yanked a cable in mir 's kristall module overnight while they were checking all the cables in preparation for the repair mission . the accident disabled a computer that controls the position of mir , and the space_station started to drift , mr . culbertson said . a backup system did not take over soon enough . with the solar arrays no longer pointed at the sun , the solar batteries were not recharged . as power drained out of them , light , temperature control and oxygen generation system were all shut down to save energy . data transmissions to ground control were cut off . the crew moved to soyuz and used its systems to communicate with ground control . ''i should stress it is an especially unpleasant situation . '' mr . solovyov said . ''it very much recalls the situation we were in after the crash . '' nasa officials said the current problem shows the value in undertaking the longer_term repairs . the repair mission is aimed at restoring power that was lost when the spektr module was holed in a collision . before spektr was sealed off , electrical_cables from the solar arrays in the module were disconnected , reducing the overall power to the space_station by about half . the goal is to reopen spektr , reconnect the cables and then seal the module up again , while keeping the air in mir . the russians want the crew to attempt the repairs now using a special hermetic plate transported to mir . if the repairs do not work , a new crew that is taking off for mir on aug . 5 can bring new equipment and try again . in effect , that gives the russians a backup plan , mr . culbertson said . but another reason for doing the repairs now is to improve the viability of mir , both as a scientific laboratory and as an environment for the astronauts . if mir had the extra power from the spektr module , mr . culbertson said , it might have had enough power on hand to avoid the current crisis . ''we may not have been in the same position of having to power down the gyrodines and go through the whole process once again of power up , '' he said .

has a location of russia

after a decade of gorging on french food , fast cars and giant profits , russia 's rich are slowing down to smell the flowers and the oxygen . streams of it , pumped through bottles of water perfumed with fruits and herbs , are the main menu item at shizlong , a restaurant in central moscow . clusters of fashionable young people breathe it in through slim tubes stuck slightly up their noses . ten minutes of breathing deeply reduces the need for sleep , according to the bar 's bubbly manager . while an oxygen smoothed path to less sleep can translate into nights of clubbing , it seems that moscow 's super rich are now more interested in their health . russia 's wealthy are reverting to simpler , skinnier lifestyles , in part , a reaction to the excesses of the 1990 's , with its meaty feasts and casino frolics . now , 10 years into russia 's embrace of capitalism , the wild boar featured on the menus at czar 's hunt , once the most popular restaurant among moscow 's elite , has given way to a new predilection for sushi bars , green_tea and aerobics . ''people know it 's time to rest , eat healthy food and look beautiful , '' said aleksandr sokolov , the general director of shizlong , or chaise longue . ''to be tan without bags under your eyes . '' the health kick has another catalyst style . ''in moscow , fashion means everything , '' said mr . sokolov , dressed in a suit and seated at a glass table equipped with an oxygen machine . ''people like to be surrounded with others who look just like them . we are a fashionable place . '' shizlong 's most popular dish is plain oatmeal . other dishes include a plate of yellow fruit , steamed salmon and curiously caloric lamb . upstairs , diners can luxuriate in seven tanning rooms , or enjoy a facial in a salon . mr . sokolov , who revels in the exclusivity of his establishment , says the average diner earns at least 120 , 000 a year , about 275 times the city average , though the food and the beauty services are relatively inexpensive by moscow standards 20 for a haircut , for example . on a recent night , the small parking_lot was jammed with bmw 's , a ferrari and a bentley . the diners , who 10 years ago frequented raucous clubs , ''now speak coldly to beginner fashion models , talk business with each other and take pleasure in low calorie food , '' wrote the authoritative entertainment guide , afisha , in a recent review of shizlong , which , written half in cyrillic and half in latin letters , is the russian approximation for a reclining chair . the fad has brought some curious healers to the fore , like anatoly v . volkov , a doctor who has a booming business advising wealthy muscovites on weight control . dr . volkov , who himself is a heavy smoker and consumes a steady diet of meat and potatoes , administers blood tests to his patients and uses the information to customize their diets . but many argue that the desire to get fit runs deeper than fad diets . fitness clubs , rare five years ago , now number 125 in moscow . planet fitness , a russian chain that opened in 1998 , now has 15 clubs , two open around the clock . almost all cater to the wealthy . one chain of fitness clubs , world class , set up shop in an elite dacha community , where membership costs a whopping 4 , 000 a year . ''there 's been a shift in mentality and lifestyle , '' said alyona shishkina , marketing director for planet fitness . ''before it was all about style . now people are really working out taking responsibility for themselves , and not leaving that to grandfather lenin . '' the discipline took some getting used to . early clients were outraged to learn that smoking was prohibited in the health_club , ms . shishkina recalled . even worse , the club 's small juice and salad bars offered not a single alcoholic beverage . ''now it 's 'give me a low calorie salad or tell me what i can eat in restaurants so i can stay in shape , ' '' ms . shishkina said . ''people did n't think like that before . '' the trend got a push from russia 's trendsetter in chief , vladimir v . putin , who this year commanded russians to get in shape , after a disappointing showing in the olympics . while moscow 's rich work off a decade of decadence , the rest of russia is still barely earning a living . life_expectancy fell dramatically over the 1990 's , in part because of rampant alcoholism . it is only now beginning to stabilize . back at shizlong , an unusual pair of guests are taking hits of oxygen for about 2 each . two students , economics majors at moscow_state_university , giggling , confess that the visit is their first . they paid with money saved from after school jobs selling mobile_phone contracts . ''breathing it for 10 or 15 minutes will revive you , '' mr . sokolov said . ''and you need less sleep and can dance more . '' he added that for some customers , shizlong was a stopover for guests between a late night meal and moscow dance clubs . the students , ages 19 and 20 , aspire to be part of moscow 's wealthy class . for now , however , dressed in sweaters and rugby shirts , they stand out in the bar 's glitz . mr . sokolov , however , did not seem to mind . ''we have those who come in ferraris , and those who come by subway , '' he said , shrugging . ''i do n't care about transport , just as long as they pay the bill . '' moscow journal

has a location of russia

a headline in the world briefing column on saturday about a rise in the death toll from the beslan school siege by chechen led fighters in 2004 misstated beslan 's location in southern russia . it is in south ossetia , not chechnya . correction december 14 , 2006 , thursday a headline in the world briefing column on saturday about a rise in the death toll from the beslan school siege by chechen led fighters in 2004 misstated beslan 's location in southern russia , and a correction in this space on tuesday also misstated the location . it is in north ossetia not chechnya or south ossetia .

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back from his european_tour , president_bush this week faces what could be a bruising political battle against his old nemesis john_mccain and a united democratic front as the senate begins to debate a patients' bill of rights . so far , the president is on the wrong side of this fight , both on the merits and as a political matter . he ought to reconsider his opposition to empowering people to seek meaningful redress from their health_care plans when they are wrongly denied medical coverage . a patients' bill of rights is long overdue . millions of americans have little or no recourse to contest wrongful denials of medical coverage , or to seek damages arising from such denials . it is far more difficult under current law to sue managed_care organizations than it is to sue doctors . but with health plans and insurance_companies making more and more medical care decisions , it is important that they be held as accountable as doctors are held for their actions . individuals should be able to challenge them before an independent arbitrator or in court . there has been broad congressional support for a patients' bill of rights since the end of president_clinton 's first term . a genuinely bipartisan bill passed in the house last session by a comfortable 275 to 151 vote , but the senate passed a feeble version and the effort died in conference . now , under democratic leadership , the senate will try again . the patient protection act introduced by senator john_mccain and two democrats , senators edward kennedy and john_edwards , is expected to be debated on the floor this week . it is similar to a bill that passed the house last session . indeed , despite the white_house 's best efforts to get him to back an alternative , representative charlie norwood , the georgia republican who wrote the house bill , is supporting the mccain edwards kennedy effort . this bill of rights would grant everyone covered by private health plans the right to emergency care as well as access to specialists like pediatricians , obstetricians and gynecologists , without requiring a referral . patients who feel they have been wrongly denied care under their plan could refer the matter to an independent panel of experts . they could then sue their health plan in state court for medical issues , or in federal court for contractual disputes . federal suits would have a 5 million cap on punitive_damages . the bill is supported by the american_medical_association and nearly all consumer groups pressing for reform . the white_house , for its part , says the bill would open the floodgates to a wave of frivolous_lawsuits , a claim not supported by the evidence in those states that have adopted similar legislation , including texas under governor bush . the white_house is threatening to veto the legislation and is encouraging house members to rush a conservative alternative through that chamber , even though last session 68 republicans voted with mr . norwood and the democrats . the white_house backed alternative in the senate , sponsored by bill frist , republican of tennessee , and john breaux , democrat from louisiana , does give patients many of the same rights , like access to specialty care . but on liability issues it seems more concerned with protecting the health_care industry , a major republican campaign contributor , than with protecting patients . it would allow patients to sue only in federal court , even when challenging medical decisions , and would ban punitive_damages and cap verdicts for pain and suffering at 500 , 000 . federal courts are already overwhelmed and are generally regarded as more hospitable to defendants than state courts are . federalizing medical_malpractice litigation is a bad idea . this debate over patients' rights will be an early test of the white_house 's ability to work constructively with the new democratic majority in the senate , not to mention with senator mccain . mr . bush , who pledged on the campaign trail to push for an expansion of patients' rights , would be wise to drop his veto threats . he should engage senators mccain , kennedy and edwards in serious talks with a view toward backing a meaningful reform .

has a location of russia

by the late afternoon , most of the major world_wide_web news sites were no longer able to resist the struggle for life unfolding at the bottom of the barents sea . while cable news channels continued to feature drama free images from the democratic_national_convention , on the internet the news from the stricken russian submarine had taken the lead position on the cbs , msnbc , fox_news and cnn sites . ''no signs of life'' was the fox site 's headline . of the major network sites , only abc continued to cling to the convention as its lead item , offering the insight that , yes , now is the time for vice_president al_gore and senator joseph i . lieberman of connecticut to introduce themselves to the american people . as john tyson , one of the vice_president 's college roommates , described it to msnbc this evening , the final two days of the convention will provide ''a good strong dose of al_gore . '' that was the theme emphasized on every single one of the web_sites and by the cable anchors . most often , it quickly led to the unanswerable question of whether mr . gore would be able to rise to the occasion and make himself appear sufficiently presidential to improve his poll numbers . bring on the pundits ! by evening , some of the sites ( fox and cbs ) had finally come around to leading with their own lieberman pieces . but the general lack of drama in los_angeles was perhaps best exemplified by cnn 's extensive coverage of the arrival of mr . gore 's jet at burbank airport . for what seemed like hours , air_force two taxied down the runway and then sat on the tarmac , the camera focused on the dark , gaping doorway , waiting for someone , anyone , to emerge . two weeks of trying to watch first the republican and then the democratic national conventions by flipping back and forth between cable and broadcast channels and surfing the web have shown how the widely lamented absence of news at the conventions has often led news organizations to a near crippling dependency on commentary to fill the dead air . when news actually did break , like the clash between the police and protesters on monday_night outside the convention_hall , the tendency of most of the channels was to show a few quick images and then to ask the commentators , who had no idea what was actually happening , what they thought the clash meant . the web , while promising a greater degree of immediacy and immersion for convention junkies , most often turned out to be little more than electronic journals , closer to what might be found in a weekly magazine than on a live_television report . many sites tried to make their points by adding little games and puzzles and quizzes and some of these were actually not half bad . msnbc , for instance , had something called electoral chess in which an internet user could predict which states each presidential_candidate might win in november and see if it would be enough to get their candidate the presidency . democracy now had a protesters' version of monopoly in which users were offered the chance to ''buy a politician today ! '' donors offering hefty contributions were greeted with messages like ''welcome to the white_house . thank you for your donations . you may drop by anytime you want ! '' david carr , writing on inside . com , had fun predicting how the major news outlets would cover the democratic_convention , day by day . today 's reports , he predicted , would center on the vice_president 's efforts to finish writing his acceptance_speech . ''every one of the major papers in america will buy into the transparent canard that gore a man who does push polling on his choice of neckwear is working the speech all by his lonesome , revising draft after draft deep into the night , '' mr . carr wrote . and the chats continued . abc 's sam donaldson , who has taken to the web with an eager beaverness second to none , has chatted incessantly every night of both conventions . when his guest harry thomason , the hollywood producer and pal of president_clinton , asked mr . donaldson how many people were actually out there listening to them jabber , mr . donaldson had to admit that he did n't really know , but it was far , far fewer than were watching the networks . it did n't matter , though , mr . donaldson said . ''we are the acorn and from this acorn will grow a mighty oak , '' he said . the democrats on the web political surfing

has a location of russia

as president boris n . yeltsin prepares to go before a joint meeting of parliament on thursday to ask the country " to believe in him again , " as one newspaper put it , there are muted but growing concerns about his health . alarm_bells went off last month when the central_intelligence_agency alleged that mr . yeltsin has a worsening problem with alcohol . they rang louder last weekend when video footage of mr . yeltsin at a meeting in almaty , the kazakh capital , showed him walking unevenly , grabbing an aide for support he also had difficulty speaking . officially the government has rebuffed all requests for comment . there are few more sensitive_topics for an administration trying to find a plausible solution in chechnya and to convince donors that economic and political stability will soon return . the state of health of the leader , whether czar , general secretary or president , has always been something of a taboo in russia . it is no different with mr . yeltsin . senior diplomats say that mr . yeltsin seems ill and that he has periods of depression and heavy drinking when he becomes incommunicado . but no one pretends to know the true state of his health . mr . yeltsin recently turned 64 , and he has had a difficult few years as he has tried to guide russia away from a bankrupt totalitarian past . mr . yeltsin appearance these days is a kind of testament to the struggle his face appears swollen and puffy , his hands thick with edema , his gait ponderous . when he smiles , rarely now in public , his eyes seem to disappear . one western intelligence agency said of mr . yeltsin two years ago " that he drinks no more than an average russian man of his age and experience , " which was understood to be a delicate way of saying he drinks a lot . last summer , diplomats who saw him in berlin as he blew kisses to the crowd , conducted a german orchestra and sang happily said that he was drunk , but that his mood was infectious and was well received . in may 1992 at a meeting in tashkent , uzbekistan , mr . yeltsin was similarly boisterous , red faced and amusing , and later rejected assertions by opposition politicians that he had been drunk . last fall he left the irish prime_minister waiting at shannon airport and remained on his airplane . aides said he was ill mr . yeltsin said he had overslept . but in almaty on friday , mr . yeltsin appeared much weaker and less boisterous . many russian journalists who were there think mr . yeltsin simply celebrated too much during a birthday party on the plane . diplomats are not so sure , though they say he displays great_powers of recuperation and they expect him to be in good form on thursday . mr . yeltsin has a bad back and is said by diplomats to take medication for the pain , which may cause him difficulties if combined with alcohol . he is said to take cortisone , which could help explain the puffiness . he has heart problems , and some doctors , though cautioning that they do not know his history , say he seems to suffer from arteriosclerosis . there are also rumors about liver or kidney problems , and there was another set of rumors that while mr . yeltsin was hospitalized for two weeks in december , as the invasion of chechnya began , he had had another operation as well as a nose job . but rumors are general in a political hierarchy that more and more resembles a court . should mr . yeltsin die in office , prime_minister viktor s . chernomyrdin would become acting president and must call new elections within three months . most russian newspapers have not touched the issue . one television commentator in almaty made a lightly veiled reference to mr . yeltsin 's drinking a lot of kumys , the kazakh delicacy of fermented mare 's milk . the sevodnya newspaper carefully ran excerpts from an agence_france_presse dispatch . otto latsis , a senior columnist for izvestia and a member of mr . yeltsin 's advisory_council , said the press 's " reserve " is clear . " this is the president , " mr . latsis said , " and if he has some serious health problems , he should quit . but to come up with such a demand , one needs confirmed information . " mr . latsis and others have called for rules to oblige a president to have an annual checkup and to have the results published . but no one expects that to happen in the new russia , any more than in the old . talks with yeltsin opposed washington , feb . 15 ( special to the new york times ) a bipartisan group of legislators urged president_clinton in a letter today to turn down an invitation to meet president boris n . yeltsin in may unless the war in chechnya has been resolved . the letter , organized by representative tim roemer , democrat of indiana , said " russia 's involvement in chechnya illustrated an alarming disregard for abiding by the principles of cooperation " that mr . yeltsin agreed to when he visited washington last september .

has a location of russia

as troubles continue to rain down on russia 's new government , president boris n . yeltsin , himself now facing the latest in a series of impeachment votes , tried today to reassure jittery investors that the country would not shift off its ''balanced , finely tuned course . '' the week began with a sharp drop on russia 's financial markets , where prices fell 12 percent monday . on tuesday , the market steadied after the central_bank spent more than 500 million to protect the ruble and raised refinancing rates to 50 percent from 30 , an increase that will bite into russia 's already overextended budget . meanwhile , in a sign of ripening popular discontent , a sit_in by striking miners in the kuzbas region , which has held up traffic on the trans_siberian railroad over the last six days , is spreading across the country , as teachers , doctors , students and miners from the far north to southern russia protested unpaid salaries and miserly stipends . a state of emergency has been declared in the kemerovo region , where the kuzbas mines are situated , to deal with the rail backup . according to one report , a total of 300 cargo trains and 120 passenger trains had been idled by the strikers , causing delays of up to 35 hours on the crucial trans_siberian line , the world 's longest . deputy prime_minister boris nemtsov told a meeting today that the bill for miners' unpaid salaries backed up over six months equaled almost 600 million . ''people 's anger and lack of trust in the federal authorities are so deep that this may lead to a mighty explosion that will reach moscow , '' aman tuleyev , the communist governor of the kemerovo region told reporters on tuesday . to add to the kremlin 's list of political worries , the opposition dominated parliament yesterday voted to delay a vote on the approval of start_ii a slap at mr . yeltsin who had publicly called for ratification of the arms control treaty this summer and today , members of the federation council , or upper_house , approved a communist drafted bill that would ban the buying and selling of agricultural land . the latest impeachment vote against mr . yeltsin , pushed by the communists , is probably doomed . but it took the opposition little time today to gather 177 signatures to move ahead with hearings on a_12 page indictment , which accuses the president of treason and orchestrating the country 's economic collapse . ''we have warned time and again that his policy would lead to disaster , '' gennadi zyuganov , leader of the russian communist party , said . the sharp challenge to the kremlin 's policies in moscow and outside comes at a moment when the race to succeed mr . yeltsin when and if he retires at the end of his current term in 2000 has unofficially begun . with the election last sunday of his old foe , aleksandr i . lebed , as governor of a siberian region , political commentators and contributors have focused on the lack of a strong and plausible candidate other than the president himself who could carry on mr . yeltsin 's brand of economic_reform . but for now , prime_minister sergei kiriyenko , the 35 year old former banker who was pushed onto the national stage by mr . yeltsin a month and a half ago , is the one who has to steer the russian economy through the crises that have erupted in the last few weeks .

has a location of russia

in the first year of the new russia , a group of students enrolled in a new western style graduate school to learn a long forbidden academic discipline market economics . they were heady days . the soviet_union had just collapsed . economic reforms were beginning , sending prices spinning . new social classes of the fantastically rich and painfully poor were beginning to emerge . the students , 20 year olds from moscow universities , wanted to understand it . now , 10 years later , the graduates of the new economics school have grown into some of russia 's most promising young leaders . one became the youngest deputy minister in the government at age 29 . another was hired by the sloan school of management at the massachusetts_institute_of_technology as one of the few women to teach there . yet another is chief_executive_officer of a large investment fund in moscow . the first graduating_class gathered for its 10th reunion in moscow late last month . the event , held as a conference on the russian economy , was attended by many leading policy_makers , including the russian finance minister and the former no . 2 official at the international_monetary_fund . even president vladimir v . putin sent his congratulations . the 34 graduates of the first class , now in jobs in business , education and government , were the first to receive a western style graduate education in economics after the soviet_union fell apart . many went on to receive advanced degrees from american or western_european universities . those who returned brought fresh ideas and outlooks to russia , and now are a powerful force for change . ''their worldview is much wider than ours was , '' oleg v . vyugin , 50 , first deputy chairman of the russian central_bank , said during the reunion . ''they are not afraid . they are capable of working here or anywhere . it 's all the same for them . that 's new . '' they were a generation on the cusp of change . the one just ahead of them , already in the work force at the end of the soviet_union , produced the young reformers of the 1990 's , who taught themselves economics from textbooks and set russia careering toward capitalism . it also begot the business tycoons who profiteered during the free for all that followed . the generation after them barely remembers communism . ''our generation has a mix of old and new , '' said arkady v . dvorkovich , a new economics school graduate who is now a deputy minister on the government 's economic_reform team . ''we still had marx and pioneer camps . for students several years younger than us , that did n't exist . for those who were older , it is all they knew . '' the graduates are also distinctly less cynical than the preceding generation . while tycoons were grabbing oil companies and reformers were dismantling the economy , mr . dvorkovich and many of his fellow students were trying to understand it . after receiving a master 's degree from duke_university , mr . dvorkovich returned to take a job in government . at 27 he became one of the architects of mr . putin 's economic program . his current position as deputy minister pays less than he could expect in private business , but he lives frugally , helped by savings from previous consulting work . ''we can think in soviet ways or in new ways , '' he said at his office recently . ''it leads to easier compromise , but sometimes it creates conflict inside yourself . we see that it is not right to smash everything from the past . some of it was good . '' other graduates have also influenced public_policy . the economic expert group , a research organization run by former students , provided the first reliable economic statistics to the russian government , an important service in a country where the state of the economy had long been treated as a state secret . the new economics school brought leading economics professors from american and other western universities to teach the equivalent of the first two years of a western style doctorate in economics , with a certificate at the end that is comparable to a master 's degree . it was started by an israeli economics professor with a grant from the american philanthropist george_soros and is based in a drab moscow high rise that once housed the soviet_union 's top mathematicians . ''the change was already in the air , '' said yekaterina zhuravskaya , 30 , a graduate who is now a director at the center for economic and financial research here . russian colleges , she said , ''taught the same old stuff political_economy , socialism , weird things like that . there was a lack of something new . '' lifestyles also differ from a decade ago . graduates travel abroad freely , speak foreign languages and change jobs easily . ms . zhuravskaya , who shares a two room apartment with her husband and baby , rarely cooks , buys groceries over the internet and drives to work . she went on to receive her doctorate in economics from harvard and had her pick of jobs , but chose to return to russia , in part , she said , because she saw more opportunities here . since returning , she too has had a hand in shaping the russian economy . a world_bank financed study of small business that she led has shown moscow officials the shortcoming of their policies for reducing red_tape for small businesses . other graduates , however , stayed abroad . anna pavlova , now 29 , joined the sloan school 's faculty in 2000 . she said she had not returned to russia to work because her field finance is not an academic discipline here . back at the reunion , young people packed an auditorium . under the lights , top policy_makers were debating recipes for economic_growth . among them was mr . dvorkovich . ''sooner or later probably sooner they will come to take over the reins of power , '' andrei n . illarionov , 41 , one of the other panelists and an economic adviser to mr . putin , said of the young graduates . ''they will do a better job than my generation . i certainly hope so . ''

has a location of russia

in an apparent first , russian scientists have genetically_engineered a new form of anthrax that may be able to defeat the vaccine that american_troops will soon get to protect them against such biological_agents , american scientists said yesterday in interviews . since the advent of genetic_engineering in the late 1970 's and early 1980 's , biological_warfare experts have worried about the technique 's possible use in making deadlier germs that could turn warfare into a more pernicious art . but until now , no one has admitted taking the step of engineering a new pathogen that could be a potential military weapon . col . gerald parker , commander of the army medical research institute of infectious_diseases in fort detrick , md . , said in an interview that experts ''need to evaluate it'' to learn whether the advance is theoretical or practical , and whether it could sidestep the american anthrax vaccine . ''it 's one thing to do this in the lab , '' he said . ''but it 's a whole different thing to produce it in large quantities to be used as a weapon . that would be very difficult . '' officials at the institute said the defense_department was working through diplomatic and other channels to get the russians to share the new organism with american experts . ''this is the first indication we 're aware of in which genes are being put into a fully virulent strain , '' said col . arthur friedlander , chief of the bacteriology division at the institute . the russian scientists , based in obolensk , near moscow , work at the state research center for applied_microbiology . they published their research on the anthrax organism in the december issue of vaccine , a british scientific_journal . the new germ reportedly contains two non anthrax genes that may alter the way in which it causes disease . anthrax normally afflicts animals like cattle and sheep , but it can cause severe illness and death in humans who inhale large doses , making the anthrax bacillus a weapon of potentially horrifying dimensions . but it is very hard technically to develop biological arms that kill on a large scale , and do so without also hurting the aggressor . american experts say a benign explanation for the research is that the russians are trying to improve their own anthrax vaccine , which uses live germs . but the experts add that the strides can aid offense as well as defense , as is the case with most advances in the science of germ protection . ''they genetically_engineered a strain that 's resistant to their own vaccine , and one has to question why that was done , '' said colonel friedlander . ''that 's the disturbing feature here . '' russia is a signatory to the 1972 biological_weapons convention , banning the development , production and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons . but in 1992 , president boris n . yeltsin admitted that a deadly accident at sverdlovsk in 1979 , in which anthrax spores were released into the air , had been caused by ''our military developments . '' for years , scientists have debated how significant the opening of the gene warfare door would be , with some saying it foreshadows a new age of terror and others playing it down . the skeptics say raw nature has already produced so many germs that haunt humans in horrifying ways that warriors have no reason to create new ones . ''gene wars'' ( beech tree books , morrow , 1988 ) , by charles piller and dr . keith r . yamamoto , a molecular biologist , argued the opposite , saying the field threatened to usher in a new kind of martial insanity . the report of a genetic enhancement to anthrax comes on the heels of scientific evidence published this month that russian germ_warfare experts in the 1970 's created a blend of at least four natural strains of anthrax bacilli , as if the mix was devised to overwhelm a vaccine . the lead russian researcher in the vaccine report , dr . a . p . pomerantsev , shared preliminary information about his team 's work last fall when he was in the united_states collaborating with american scientists on a different project . ''the evidence that they presented suggested that it could be resistant to our vaccine , '' colonel friedlander said . ''we need to get hold of this strain to test it against our vaccine . we need to understand how this new organism causes disease , and we need to test it in animals other than hamsters that the russians used . '' yesterday a pentagon spokesman declined to comment on the vaccine report , but it seems likely that , if possible , the new organism will be studied intensely to see if it can defeat the american vaccine . that vaccine was given to about 150 , 000 troops during the persian_gulf_war in 1991 . this summer , the defense_department plans to begin a campaign of administering it that eventually is to reach all 2.4 million american military personnel .

has a location of russia

over the next three years , 12 professors from four universities in russia will spend a semester each at fairfield university learning about american culture and teaching methods under a program sponsored by the state_department . the university , in fairfield , conn . , received a 294 , 806 federal grant for the program . for the last three years , fairfield has had an exchange program that sent professors to herzen university in st . petersburg for two weeks . lia miller bulletin_board

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the death toll in a fire at a drug treatment hospital early saturday rose to 45 , all of them women , and russian officials said that they died because they were trapped by locked exits and locked window grilles as toxic smoke suffocated them . officials said they suspected arson and were investigating further . but they said the magnitude of the death toll appeared to result from gross safety violations and the evident failure of the hospital 's staff to make an effort to rescue its patients . ''i have to say that no rescue operations were carried out by the personnel , '' aleksandr p . chupriyan , the deputy minister of emergencies services , said in remarks broadcast on ekho_moskvy . ''the fact is that when they discovered the fire , they themselves jumped out from the first floor . '' the fire was not large , beginning in a second floor kitchen that had undergone repairs the previous day , but the flames generated thick , toxic smoke that filled that wing of the moscow drug treatment hospital no . 17 , one of the country 's largest centers for treating addicts . of those killed , 43 were patients , sleeping on the women 's ward on the second floor . the two others were hospital workers . most of the patients were younger than 35 , a hospital psychologist , olga rudakov , told ntv , a national station . all should have been able to walk out , she said , had they not been trapped . at least 150 patients and workers escaped , though at least 12 were hurt . many windows in the wing had been smashed , but the metal bars blocking them remained in place . the only exit not engulfed in smoke was behind a locked gate , the chief of the emergencies ministry 's fire inspection department , maj . gen . yuri p . nenashev , said . it was not clear whether hospital workers had keys to the window grilles or whether they tried to unlock them . russia has strict building and fire codes but also a culture of bribery and corruption that allows violations to pass unpunished and unfixed . mr . nenashev said fire inspectors had found safety violations in february and march and recommended closing the hospital until they were corrected . a court refused , however , and issued only a warning . the fire 's toll was the worst in years in moscow . a fire at people 's friendship university here in 2003 killed 44 people , mostly foreign students . in that case , too , locked emergency exits trapped those inside . the victims on saturday were among the most vulnerable people in russia , recovering addicts who engender little public sympathy . the hospital is in a depressed part of southern moscow , an area of crumbling soviet_era apartment blocs . one elderly woman outside the hospital who refused to give her name said that her granddaughter was among the patients who survived the fire . still , she offered her no sympathy for her granddaughter . ''let death take her , '' she said .

has a location of russia

no one in russia understands the power of political imagery better than president boris_yeltsin , who consolidated his leadership when he helped stop the august 1991 coup by standing on a tank and urging his countrymen to resist the attempted takeover . that makes his stumbling appearance last friday at a meeting in kazakhstan with the leaders of 12 former soviet republics all the more shocking and puzzling . at a moment when his presidency has been badly_shaken by the brutal russian attack on chechnya , mr . yeltsin wobbled across the sidewalk in the kazakh capital of almaty , desperately gripping aides for support . his face was puffy and sallow . before canceling a later news conference , he attempted to answer questions at a photo session and was barely able to speak . these scenes were filmed by associated press television , but not broadcast on the main russian television news . after years of dodging questions about his health and his drinking , mr . yeltsin owes his country and the world a candid accounting . the performance in almaty moves the issue beyond the discreet conversation of diplomats , because mr . yeltsin 's ability to govern russia is now in question . russia , which has been moving into a more democratic and open era , seems eerily similar to the pre gorbachev soviet_union when the faltering health of three consecutive communist_party leaders leonid brezhnew , yuri andropov and konstantin chernenko was considered a state secret . mr . yeltsin has complained of a bad back , and may be on medication to ease the pain . he reported a " physical breakdown " in 1987 when he was hospitalized after a confrontation with mikhail_gorbachev that led to his dismissal from the politburo . supporters say mr . yeltsin has a low tolerance for alcohol and can disable himself for days with an evening of heavy drinking . the last sign of trouble came in the fall when mr . yeltsin snubbed irish leaders waiting to greet him during a refueling stop in ireland . aides said he had overslept . whatever the problem , or combination of problems , mr . yeltsin cannot expect to retain authority when he seems incapacitated and offers no explanation . moscow 's political culture , beginning long before the bolsheviks , has not been kind to wounded leaders , and even in this more democratic day the piranhas will strike swiftly . hiding the truth about mr . yeltsin 's health will only increase the chances for plotting and instability . for the united_states , the international_monetary_fund and others considering expanded financial assistance for russia , mr . yeltsin 's behavior can only encourage doubts about the condition of a developing democracy where something as critical as the health of the president is cloaked by his staff . if mr . yeltsin remains committed to untangling russia from its authoritarian past , he and his doctors must quickly come clean .

has a location of russia

boris n . yeltsin 's heart function has improved significantly since his bypass_surgery last month and his recuperation continues smoothly , according to an american consultant in the russian_president 's case . ''he is doing just beautifully , '' the consultant , dr . michael e . debakey , of baylor college of medicine in houston , said in a telephone interview wednesday night , hours after talking with mr . yeltsin 's surgeon , dr . renat s . akchurin , in moscow . mr . yeltsin , 65 , is increasingly active and plans to spend some time at his home near the black_sea before returning to the kremlin later this month , dr . debakey said . mr . yeltsin moved to his dacha near moscow about a week ago . dr . akchurin , who performed a quintuple heart bypass on mr . yeltsin on nov . 5 , had called to brief dr . debakey , who consulted in the case twice in moscow in september to confirm that mr . yeltsin could undergo a bypass , and again at the time of the surgery . dr . debakey said tests had shown significant improvement in mr . yeltsin 's heart function . the test measures the proportion of blood ejected from the main chamber of the heart in each beat , and is known as the ejection fraction . a normal fraction is about 66 percent . but it was a low of 20 percent last summer after mr . yeltsin suffered a heart_attack that his doctors stopped in progress by injecting a clot dissolving drug . the fraction improved to 30 to 35 percent in september and rose to about 40 percent before the operation . it is now 50 percent , dr . debakey said . he said that although the fraction was not fully normal , ''for him to come all that way is absolutely remarkable , particularly in that short period of time , and it clearly confirms the diagnosis of a stunned heart . '' doctors also call such a condition a hibernating heart , a condition in which portions of the heart muscle are temporarily unable to work because they lack sufficient nourishment , but can become functional when a supply of oxygenated blood is restored . ''he has got the kind of response that i hoped and predicted he would get , '' dr . debakey said . he added that he expected mr . yeltsin ''will be able to lead a virtually normal life . ''

has a location of russia

stanislav baranov sat in the computer filled trading room at rossiisky kredit bank , barely able to contain his glee . he had made a big investment in almazy rossii sakha , russia 's biggest diamond mining company , at a time when its outlook was shaky . now , less than six months later , people were clamoring to buy him out at a big profit . ''i 'm holding it , '' he said with a roguish trader 's grin . ''we 're not selling until it becomes worth more . '' victories like this are the bread of life for securities traders on wall_street except that mr . baranov does n't invest in stocks or bonds . he trades in unpaid_bills . hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid , overdue bills . he is not alone . russia 's mountain of overdue debt has spawned one of the biggest and strangest developments yet on this country 's rocky road to capitalism a 15 billion market in i.o.u . 's . known here as ' 'veksels , '' many are redeemable for cash , as the diamond company 's are . others are good for oil , electricity , tires , chemicals or cement . whatever their form , the use of veksels has exploded in the last year . companies issue them to pay their suppliers , which barter them for other goods or resell them to speculators for cash . banks and brokerage companies trade more than 100 million worth of them each month , and post prices for them on the internet . even a few american investors are snapping them up , viewing them as a russian variant on american high yield junk_bonds . the trade in veksels is a very primitive version of a corporate_bond market , though one that is largely unregulated and often informal . in some cases it is similar to the practice in the united_states of bundling mortgages , car loans or even troubled loans from distressed companies into securities that are sold to investors . in many respects , swapping veksels is the financial equivalent of keeping the mir_space_station in orbit . overdue bills in business have tripled in the last two years , to 123 billion equal to more than one quarter of the country 's annual economic output , the russian government estimates . unpaid_bills pervade russian life . companies cannot pay their suppliers suppliers cannot pay their workers workers cannot pay their utility bills or their rent , and almost everybody holds back on paying taxes . the vicious_cycle of nonpayment has become particularly acute in the last 18 months , thanks largely to the russian central_bank 's get tough policies on fighting inflation . those policies abruptly choked off the money_supply and brought inflation below 15 percent , from more than 200 percent in 1994 . but the other result is that people literally do not have any money . many other countries have endured similar travails , and some have also resorted to high level bartering as a solution . indeed , the word veksel is a borrowing of the german ''wechsel , '' for ''exchange . '' germany resorted to i.o.u . 's for a brief period after world_war_ii . several other former soviet republics are using them today , and mexican banks have developed something similar as well . but few have responded on as large a scale and with such sophistication as russia , blending the swagger of chicago commodities traders , internet technology and the hand to mouth survival schemes of companies in daily danger of collapse . typically , a company issues i.o.u . 's to its suppliers instead of paying cash . the suppliers can then either hold the i.o . u 's and wait for them to be paid by an agreed upon date , or try to cash them in immediately by selling them or exchanging them at a discount from their face value . the bigger the discount and they can be substantial the greater the risk that the i.o.u . will not be paid off on time or at all . the market is a fragile one built on the idea that the securities will either be held or continue to be transferred . consider the case of gazprom , the company that distributes natural_gas across russia as well as to much of western_europe . gazprom is one of russia 's strongest companies , one whose shares and i.o.u . 's are heavily traded around the country . like many other companies , gazprom is caught in the middle of russia 's nonpayments crisis . moscow 's electric_utility , mosenergo , owes the company about three trillion_rubles , or 512 million . mosenergo 's problem is that the moscow city government , which subsidizes residential electric bills , owes it two trillion_rubles , or 342 million . part of the government 's problem , in turn , is that neither businesses nor residents are paying their taxes . enter veksels . gazprom has issued its suppliers about 170 million worth of i.o.u . 's , which are redeemable primarily for natural_gas . because gazprom is big and credible , brokers say that its i.o.u . 's are always in popular demand among both investors and companies looking for natural_gas . in fact , many gazprom veksels ultimately end up in the hands of its debtors , who use them to offset their own overdue bills . whether the i.o.u . 's get swapped for natural_gas or for money , they are valuable . analysts at renaissance capital group , a moscow based investment firm , calculate that gazprom veksels yield a profit of roughly 25 percent a year . conventional government_bonds in russia yield about 18 percent a year . but investors with cast_iron stomachs say the returns on less familiar companies can climb to more than 65 percent . that was the case with almazy rossii sakha , the government owned producer of nearly one third of the world 's crude diamonds . almazy and the russian government had been close to cementing a lucrative contract with the de beers , the south_african diamond producer . but the two sides have been haggling for more than a year , which left almazy almost drained of cash . so the company has issued more than 100 million in i.o.u . 's , many of them due to be paid in cash in 1998 . now almazy i.o.u . 's are suddenly hot so hot they are almost impossible to buy . the reason almazy and de beers plan to sign a final contract later this month . as a result , the i.o.u . 's are now likely to be paid off on time , so their value has nearly doubled since last year . people who bought almazy i.o.u . 's early are now likely to make a profit of 65 percent at the time of payoff , according to renaissance capital group , a moscow based investment firm . numbers like that are attracting serious foreign investors , including americans . ''this is the first stage toward developing a corporate_bond market , '' said kyle brandon , a partner at orion capital advisors , an investment fund here that focuses on russian securities and began buying i.o.u . 's a few months ago . what is the lure ? ''sixty five percent returns , '' said ms . brandon bluntly . but the risks can be huge . the international_monetary_fund has been critical of veksels , saying they distort the true indebtedness of the country and the companies , and give companies a way to avoid taxes as the profit on i.o.u . 's is generated almost entirely outside the official economy and is generally not taxed . the i.o.u . 's are also notoriously intricate , each tied to the bill paying problems of a particular company and many loaded with quirky conditions . many i.o.u . 's never even trade in the open market , and are simply swapped between companies that regularly do business . some electric_utilities and power_plants coordinate their unpaid_bills . kursk atomic power_station , a government owned nuclear_plant , has been left with millions in unpaid_bills by local electric_utilities across central russia . so instead of promising to pay off its suppliers itself , kursk atomic pays off its own bills with i.o.u . 's that companies can redeem in the form of electricity at local utilities that owe kursk atomic money . ''you can talk about these things for weeks and never get a thing done , '' laughed mr . baranov , who heads rossiisky kredit 's veksel trading operation . though all i.o.u . 's are theoretically redeemable for cash at some date in the future , many of them end up as means of facilitating bartering . krasnoyarsk tire company in siberia now relies on i.o.u . 's and bartering for almost all transactions . ''only 3 to 5 percent of the money flow of the company is carried out in cash , '' said sergei chirkasov , who heads krasnoyarsk tire 's i.o.u . activities . over the last 18 months , he said , the company has more than doubled its use of i.o.u . 's . it plans to use them to pay its workers' wages . because krasnoyarsk i.o.u . 's are generally redeemable only for tires , they are transformed into money through the alchemy of trading . the chain can take the i.o.u . 's across the country and back . krasnoyarsk , for example , uses tire i.o.u . 's to buy raw_materials from rosshina , a moscow company . rosshina exchanges them for electricity with a siberian electric company called tyumenenergo , part of russia 's nationwide power distributor , unified_energy systems . the electric company then trades some of the tire vouchers with gazprom , to which it owes money for raw fuel . at some point , the tire i.o.u . 's end up in the hands of a company that takes them back to krasnoyarsk tire and uses them to buy tires . serious investors say they usually trade only in i.o.u . 's redeemable for cash . many big issuers of i.o.u . 's are banks , which sell their own to raise short term capital for lending . but even those can be enormously risky . in july 1996 , a moscow bank called tveruniversalbank abruptly went bankrupt because it had issued far more i.o.u . 's than it could afford to pay off . when it collapsed , it left about 160 million in obligations . earlier this month , the daily izvestia reported that counterfeiters in the russian far east had begun selling fake i.o.u . 's . the paper said the swindlers had produced convincing copies of i.o.u . 's issued by sberbank , one of russia 's biggest banks , and were planning to sell more than 40 million worth . the gang , which included defense ministry workers , was caught when sberbank officials spotted early forgeries . hoping to avoid further catastrophes , the russian central_bank has clamped down on the volume of i.o.u . 's that banks can issue . meanwhile , companies that issue i.o.u . 's have formed a self regulatory organization called auver , which has created more formal ground rules and is trying to develop a system like those used to trade stocks and bonds . many experts predict that i.o.u . 's will fade into disuse as russia 's economy becomes more stable and as companies learn to borrow money in more conventional ways , by getting bank loans or by selling bonds . but that may take years . until then , or until another scandal erupts , veksels are moving full speed ahead .

has a location of russia

in a potentially crucial turn for russia 's most contentious criminal trial , two forensic psychiatrists testified today that a russian army colonel , yuri budanov , was insane when he strangled an 18 year old chechen woman nearly three years ago . the judgment of insanity the second such opinion in months appeared to pave the way for col . budanov 's acquittal in a court proceeding that has become a yardstick for russia 's ability or willingness to control rights abuses by its military . colonel budanov 's lawyer immediately said he would ask the judge to dismiss the charges and order psychiatric treatment for his client , possibly as soon as friday , when the trial is scheduled to resume . some rights activists said the testimony raised old doubts about the impartiality of the trial , which has long been dogged by charges that evidence of colonel budanov 's guilt had been altered or suppressed . colonel budanov , a onetime commander in the army 's 160th regiment , has admitted that he seized the woman , elza kungayeva , from her home in chechnya in march 2000 , and that he later cut off her clothes with a knife and strangled her in the tent that served as his quarters . he had been drinking heavily . his lawyers argue that he murdered ms . kungayeva in a fit of passion because he believed she was a sniper who had murdered several of his troops . ms . kungayeva 's relatives say he raped her , a contention backed by an autopsy report which was later recalled and changed , and that her murder was premeditated . the kremlin initially expressed outrage over the crime , and even dispatched a representative of ms . kungayeva 's funeral . but many in the russian military have closed ranks behind colonel budanov , and opinion_polls have suggested that most ordinary russians believe he should be set free . court appointed psychiatrists said this summer that colonel budanov was insane at the time of the murder , an opinion some outside experts question because several aspects of the killing , such as the colonel 's subsequent order to subordinates to hide her body in a woods , indicate that he knew he had committed a crime . the federal health ministry ordered colonel budanov re examined this autumn at the serbsky psychiatric institute , a highly unusual move that suggested to some that the russian government was concerned about the objectivity of the trial . the reaffirmation today by the serbsky institute , infamous for its routine insanity rulings against soviet dissidents during the cold_war , failed to satisfy critics . ''it looks like everything keeps slowly moving toward his acquittal , '' aleksandr sokolov , a physician and board member of the russian rights group memorial , said . ''i 'd like to be wrong . but i think this case has a bad perspective . ''

has a location of russia

the cardiology center where president boris n . yeltsin of russia is likely to have heart surgery later this month has high success rates that are comparable to those in many american hospitals , leading american heart surgeons said yesterday . in announcing that he would undergo heart surgery , mr . yeltsin , 65 , did not specify where it would take place , but the most likely place is the cardiology center in moscow . one surgeon , dr . michael e . debakey of baylor medical center in houston , said he has often visited the cardiology center and that its head surgeon , dr . renat s . akchurin , had trained with him in houston for two years . dr . wayne isom , head of cardiovascular surgery at new york hospital cornell medical center in new york city , said he had operated with dr . akchurin at the moscow center and agreed with dr . debakey 's view . dr . debakey said that ''dr . akchurin is very capable'' and that his team ''has pretty good statistics , almost comparable to ours , about a 95 percent general success rate . '' dr . akchurin performed a bypass_operation on prime_minister viktor s . chernomyrdin about four years ago at the center , dr . debakey said . mr . chernomyrdin would replace mr . yeltsin as president if he died or became incapacitated . dr . debakey said he did not know the moscow hospital 's statistics for long term follow up from heart surgery but said the death rate of about 5 percent was comparable to that of many american hospitals . although it is lower in some hospitals , such statistics vary according to each surgeon 's experience with a particular type of operation and with each patient 's condition . mr . yeltsin did not specify his diagnosis or the type of procedure he will undergo , making it difficult to comment about his prognosis , the american doctors said . but they said a coronary_bypass operation is statistically the most likely possibility . after such surgery , patients face complications like serious infections and bleeding . the moscow center is headed by dr . yevgeny i . chazov , who cared for former president mikhail s . gorbachev and is a former soviet health minister . ''i do n't know of any other place in russia other than chazov 's where they would do the operation , '' dr . debakey said . dr . james e . muller , the head of cardiology at the university of kentucky in lexington , who has worked at the moscow center , said many patients leave american hospitals about five days after heart surgery and recuperate further under supervision at home . ''but most patients do not feel like themselves for six months , '' dr . muller said . as health minister , dr . chazov was able to get the funds to build the cardiology center , which has ''good equipment , a good set up'' and has done some good work in developing heart drugs , dr . debakey said . he and dr . isom said they had not been consulted about mr . yeltsin 's case . they and spokesmen for the american college of cardiology in bethesda , md . , the american heart association in dallas and several medical_schools and hospitals said they did not know of any american doctor who had been consulted in mr . yeltsin 's case . the white_house has offered any possible assistance to mr . yeltsin but the russians have not yet taken up the offer . mr . yeltsin did not say what tests he had undergone . it is standard practice to do a special x_ray procedure called an angiogram and an echocardiogram among other tests before heart surgery . kremlin officials have said that mr . yeltsin has had chest_pains from angina , which results from lack of oxygen rich blood reaching the heart . angina most often is due to a buildup of fatty substances that block one or more coronary_arteries . among the procedures mr . yeltsin might undergo are an angioplasty to open a blocked coronary_artery , or a bypass_operation in which an artery or vein is taken from the chest or leg and fashioned to rechannel blood flow around blocked arteries . other possibilities include surgery to repair or remove a damaged heart valve , if that is his problem , or a heart_transplant if he has a condition known as cardiomyopathy . mr . yeltsin 's procedure is being performed electively later this month . such delays are common , often due to work schedules . they also can be due to need for treatment of congestive heart failure , which can be a complication of many heart conditions , or unrelated conditions such as liver_disease . mr . yeltsin 's full medical_history is not known . he is reported to be a heavy drinker and the status of his liver is unknown . excessive alcohol intake can also damage the heart , often causing damage to the heart muscle , a condition known as cardiomyopathy .

has a location of russia

collaborating russian and american nuclear physicists believe they have created a new ultra heavy element that may open the door to a host of new elements once considered impossible . if confirmed , the achievement would be the realization of efforts over a half century to reach a major goal of nuclear physics to create an element far heavier than any in nature that would survive for long enough to permit scientific study . russian physicists announced the news over the last few weeks through e mail to international physics laboratories , and the journal science published a brief account of the work on jan . 22 . the work to create the element , which has not been named , was conducted at the joint institute for nuclear research at dubna , russia , under the leadership of dr . yuri oganessian , a nuclear_physicist . the american participants in the experiment , from lawrence livermore national laboratory in california , said in interviews yesterday that they would have preferred to withhold the news until they had completed some calculations but that the evidence for the creation of the element was very strong . it appears , they said , that during a four month bombardment from a big russian cyclotron of a rare or form of plutonium by atoms of a rare form of calcium , a single atom of the new element was created . the nucleus of a calcium projectile atom fused with the nucleus of a target plutonium atom to form an element containing 114 protons and about 184 neutrons in its nucleus . the resulting atom of element 114 survived for about 30 seconds , they said , a long period compared with the decay rates of most other heavy man made elements . the pattern of radiation and nuclear fragments from the decaying atom matched the pattern predicted by theory for the decay of element 114 , the scientists said . the creation of element 114 , if confirmed , would place science at the edge of the long sought ''island of stability , '' theoretically a range of fairly stable ultraheavy artificial elements that physicists say may offer scientists a new palette of chemical elements unknown in nature . the achievement , if confirmed by laboratories in russia , the united_states and germany , where similar research has been done , would be a landmark in the course of nuclear discoveries that began in world_war_ii with the creation of plutonium , the element used to destroy nagasaki , japan . of the 92 elements in the basic periodic table from hydrogen , the lightest , with only one proton in its nucleus , to uranium , the heaviest , with 92 protons , all but two elements , technetium and promethium , are found in nature . tiny amounts of plutonium have also been found in nature . but with that exception , all elements with proton numbers greater than the 92 of uranium must be made in laboratories , and with element 114 , 21 artificial elements have been made . ( element 113 is missing from the sequence . ) many of the elements created since plutonium have found important uses in medicine , chemistry and even smoke_detectors , which use the radioactive man made element americium . the possibility of creating a stable superheavy element was first predicted in the 1940 's by theorists who hypothesized a shell structure of protons and neutrons in large atomic nuclei , analogous to the shells of electrons orbiting atomic nuclei . they believed that nuclei with filled proton and neutron shells would be less likely to disintegrate radioactively than nuclei with partly filled shells . but despite intense efforts by scientists in the united_states , russia and europe in the intervening half century , the goal of making a superheavy element within the island of stability was not achieved . a major problem was that when two atomic nuclei collide , they often combine energies to such high levels that the new composite nucleus instantly shakes itself apart . the 18 member dubna team , assisted by five american physicists , created the putative atom of element 114 , using a large cyclotron to hurl projectile atoms of calcium 48 at targets of plutonium 244 . both of these radioactive isotopes were provided for the experiment by lawrence_livermore laboratory . the scientists have not announced their results in any formal publication , but the russian contingent unveiled its data in e mail with foreign nuclear physicists , including albert ghiorso a leading nuclear experimentalist at lawrence berkeley national laboratory in california . mr . ghiorso is a longtime associate of dr . glenn t . seaborg , the nobel laureate who created plutonium . mr . ghiorso is credited as a co creator of 12 artificial elements beyond uranium . ''i ca n't tell you how much i wish we at the lawrence berkeley laboratory had been the ones to get element 114 , '' he said . ''it 's one of the greatest achievements in physics . but i 'm overjoyed that someone has done it . '' the 88 inch berkeley cyclotron will be used to try to repeat the dubna experiment , he said . dr . ronald lougheed and dr . john n . wild , two members of the livermore team , said they would continue to work on the russian cyclotron to confirm the discovery but meanwhile were preparing a formal paper reporting the results . bill richardson , who as secretary of energy who is in charge of livermore and other national physics laboratories hailed the work . ''if confirmed , the synthesis of element 114 will create an important new opportunity to study the physics of extremely heavy elements , '' he said .

has a location of russia

nearly seven decades ago alfred j . roach , a cocky boxer from harlem , bounced into stillman 's gym in manhattan , certain that the older , thick waisted , slow moving fighter throwing jabs into the air in the opposite corner would offer little opposition to his own welterweight ambitions . mr . roach , billed as battlin' al , took quite a shellacking that day . years later , recalling the drubbing in his memoirs , ''fire in my belly'' ( wolfhound press , dublin , 1998 ) , he recalled that his opponent became a welterweight champ a few years later . the thrashing he delivered ended mr . roach 's brief career in the ring but did not take the fight out of the streetwise future entrepreneur . ''in places like harlem you were in a fight every day , '' wrote mr . roach , now 86 . ''you had to fight back . i could n't run . like my dad , my legs were too short . so i had to learn to fight . '' today , having had a remarkably diverse career he has been , among other things , a fireman , waterfront cargo checker , securities salesman , brewery company executive , and electronics manufacturer he is fighting again , this time on behalf of american biogenetic sciences , the copiague company he founded nearly 20 years ago . the company needs a strong defender these days . although it had been honored as one of long_island 's fastest rising high tech companies in terms of 2000 revenues by deloitte_touche , it lost 1 million in the third quarter last year . ( the division that had produced most of the prior year 's revenues had been sold in june . ) but the global scientific network mr . roach had created as a pipeline for biotech innovations was still intact , and he continued to fly around the world , meeting with the scientists and researchers under contract to american biogenetic in countries like china , russia and israel . last november , as public concern about anthrax and bioterrorism seemed to peak , mr . roach returned from a trip to russia , and on nov . 26 , the company announced a_10 year agreement with russia 's ministry of health and its agricultural academy that would allow american biogenetic to sell the rights to dozens of vaccines that mr . roach said had been in use in russia and elsewhere for years . the list , which stretched to eight closely typed pages , included vaccines for anthrax , smallpox and botulism , as well as for measles and certain strains of herpes . it also listed many vaccines intended for veterinary use . almost immediately , nasdaq officials halted trading of the company 's stock , which jumped from 38 cents a share to 73 cents a share on nov . 26 , and asked the company to provide more information about the russian deal . a company spokesman said it was cooperating with the inquiry . it was a decided stumble for mr . roach , who had previously gained an international reputation as a sure footed global negotiator . last week , mr . roach acknowledged that at the time of the november announcement , the contracts with the russians had been negotiated but not yet been signed . in fact , the last of the contracts was not signed until dec . 27 , he said . on jan . 8 , the company voluntarily delisted its common_stock on the nasdaq exchange so that it could begin trading the next day in the over the counter market . a company spokesman said there was no timetable for relisting on nasdaq , where stock in many of the country 's leading high tech companies is traded . wayne lee , a nasdaq spokesman , said that it was the exchange 's policy not to comment on issues dealing with specific companies . losing access to nasdaq investors represents a serious setback for what had been , and might be again , one of long_island 's most promising companies . in the last 10 years , american biogenetic had raised over 75 million in stock sales . although mr . roach himself is not a scientist in fact he did not finish high_school he built american biogenetic largely by creating a global scientific network , then harvesting the discoveries of researchers scattered around the globe . mr . roach says that the company does not intend to bring the vaccines to market itself , a process that could take 10 years and many millions of dollars . rather , it intends to sell licenses to other companies to develop the vaccines . raymond s . firko , a lawyer who specializes in international vaccine development and regulation , said that licensing or importing a vaccine from russia or one of the former soviet states was highly unusual . ''i 've never heard of a russian vaccine coming here , '' said mr . firko , a partner in mintz levin cohn ferris gorvsky popeo , a manhattan law_firm . ''japan and europe , yes . but russia is not in harmony with our regulatory system . you would need a long process for licensing the vaccine through the food and drug administration . you would have to do clinical_trials . there would be questions about quality_control . '' mr . roach said he was convinced the russian vaccines were both safe and needed in this country , and he added that the world_health_organization had used the russian smallpox_vaccine widely in the 1970 's . it is not the first time mr . roach has gone to bat on behalf of russia , whose scientists play a major role in his research network . he has publicly advocated integrating russia and other states of the former soviet_union into the world_economy and believes that russian scientific accomplishments can be shared among people around the world . until last year , when he accepted a plaque from deloitte_touche naming american biogenetic as the fastest growing long_island high tech company for 2000 , mr . roach was perhaps better known in international scientific circles than he was in local business circles . some of that changed when the white haired octogenarian delivered a videotaped message to a room filled with men and women young enough to be his grandchildren . by some accounts , the speech left the audience hopelessly charmed . ''it was a stunning speech , '' said peter goldsmith , the chairman of the long_island software and technology network . mr . goldsmith recalled waiting 30 minutes to congratulate mr . roach because the line of well wishers was so long . ''he 's 86 , but he acts like he 's 40 , '' mr . goldsmith said . ''there were all these young people in the room , and here he is walking slowly , with his big mop of white hair . i tell you , people loved him . '' adam weisman , the deloitte partner in jericho who organized the fast 50 recognition program , said that american biogenetic 's recent fortunes illustrate the fast rate of change in the high tech world . ''to be strong in technology you have to be able to weather the bad times as well as the good times , '' he said . ''the test of a successful company is over time . '' mr . roach said ''i would like to be remembered as the man who got the vaccines here and prevented the disaster that could take place . i do n't believe that the danger of bioterrorism is over . '' l.i . work correction february 10 , 2002 , sunday the l.i . work column last sunday , about a company that has contracted to sell the rights to russian made vaccines , misspelled the surname of a lawyer who cautioned about the regulatory obstacles to the use of such vaccines in the united_states . he is raymond s . fersko , not firko .

has a location of russia

the art of the state of the union address is to rouse the faithful , deflect critics and identify a problem for which your administration is not to blame , but which you will selflessly combat . president vladimir_putin 's contribution to the genre on wednesday was a fine example . he regaled his rubber_stamp lawmakers with a swipe at ''comrade wolf'' in washington , ever prepared to eat but never to listen . he pledged to make the russian military strong enough to resist unspecified pressures from without . on iran , the message was a bold ''nyet , '' both to the spread of nuclear_weapons and to the use of force to keep them from spreading . but the issue mr . putin chose to highlight ? the vanishing russian . the problem is very real . even joseph stalin banned abortions in 1936 because he worried about the russian birth_rate ( though evidently not enough to stop killing russians or sending them to labor_camps ) . under leonid brezhnev , the state offered all kinds of incentives to have children , including cash bonuses and bigger apartments . the policy proved a windfall for central_asian muslims , who , then as now , raised large families anyway , but it did little to stem the decline of the slavic population . after the soviet_union collapsed , some hoped that freedom would encourage russians to multiply , but the dislocation and insecurity of the era have had the opposite effect . so the russian population continues to dwindle , at the rate of 700 , 000 a year . mr . putin proposes to address the problem with a wide range of subsidies and financial incentives , along with improved health_care , a crackdown on illicit alcohol , improved road safety and the like . these are all useful goals , but they 've been tried before , to no avail . perhaps another approach would be to see whether the population could be increased through improved democratic institutions . if corruption and greed among the elite were curbed somewhat , and if mr . putin started worrying less about throwing russia 's weight around and more about allowing a greater part of the population to share in the country 's governance , riches , debates and dreams , maybe the drinking and poverty would give way to larger families . there 's no guarantee , of course , but unlike the measures mr . putin outlined , this approach has never been fully explored . editorial

has a location of russia

president boris n . yeltsin has signed a new aids law that imposes mandatory testing on almost all foreigners living here . the law , which was made public today , requires foreigners who plan to spend more than three months in russia to provide documentation that they are not infected with h.i.v. , the virus that causes aids , when they apply for a visa . diplomats will be exempt , but the law does not specify whether foreigners already living in russia will have to be tested before renewing their visas . russians who work in certain professions , as yet unspecified , will also undergo mandatory testing . aids is still relatively rare in russia , but in a country with an antiquated and collapsing health_care system , the disease is desperately feared . the new law , which was drafted by a parliament that is dominated by nationalists , is viewed by many russian aids experts and civil_rights groups as a sign of growing xenophobia and intolerance . many civil_rights and gay_rights groups lobbied strenuously against the new law , maintaining that it is discriminatory . the new law is a watered down version of an earlier draft that mr . yeltsin vetoed . it required aids testing for all foreign visitors , including tourists . the russian tourist_industry , fearing the loss of millions of dollars in revenue , helped lobby against that provision . the earlier draft also required foreigners already living in russia to be tested when renewing their visas , and stipulated that the testing be done in russia a proposal that was vehemently_opposed by western embassies . but the new version has also been criticized . russia 's equivalent of an aids czar , vadim pokrovsky , head of the center for combating aids , condemned the law . " this will not help check the spread of aids , as many russian citizens travel abroad , " he said . " but it will prompt criticism from the world community . " the russian law 's requirements for foreigners are more stringent than those of most european_countries , but they are not dramatically stricter than those of the united_states . foreigners who seek permanent_residency in the united_states are required to take a medical exam . if they are found to be h.i.v . positive , they are excluded unless they are granted a waiver . according to immigration officials , foreigners who seek a temporary visa are not asked if they are h.i.v . positive . however , when vistors declare that they are h.i.v . positive they can be denied a visa unless they are granted a waiver . unlike many european_countries , the united_states reserves the right to deport aliens who provide false information about whether they are h.i.v . positive . so did the soviet_union , under a law signed in 1990 by mikhail_gorbachev , which remains on the books until the new law goes into effect . under the new law , foreigners who are found to be h.i.v . positive will also face deportation . " europe has the most progressive laws , " said kevin j . gardner , an american working in russia who is the head of a russian aids organization , aesop , which lobbied heavily against the new law . " this law will really hurt russia 's efforts to integrate with western institutions . " the law requires h.i.v . tests for russian citizens working in " certain professions , " but does not specify which ones . aleksei a . demidov , a legal expert in the presidential administration , said that the categories of workers facing compulsory testing would not be published until the law goes into effect on aug . 1 , but would most probably include health_care workers , military and law enforcement employees and prisoners . he said the law would not single out people in high risk groups , like homosexuals and drug addicts , for mandatory testing . russian health officials say that about 800 people have been diagnosed with aids , but private aids organizations estimate that the actual number is ten times higher . and while russia 's rate of infection is negligible compared with that of the united_states , where the centers_for_disease_control and prevention estimates that between one million and 1.5 million people are h.i.v . positive , russian health authorities are worried that their impoverished health_care system cannot handle any wider spread of the desease . bela a . denisenko , chairman of the committee for health protection in the lower_house of parliament , which drafted the aids bill , denied that the bill is discriminatory . " it is an exaggeration to say that this law will fan xenophobia , " she said . " i believe that it is a civilized way of dealing with this problem . if we had a european standard of health_care in this country , or if we had better access to equipment and medicine , then a law like this would be unnecessary . " some supporters of the law say aids is a foreign disease imported by sexual marauders . during a parliamentary debate last june , ms . denisenko said sexual_contact with a foreigner " is 100 times more dangerous than with a russian . " some foreigners living in russia say they are alarmed by the new legislation . " i know what the results of a test would be , " said russell l . wycoff , an american real_estate consultant in moscow who is h.i.v . positive . " i 'm waiting for them to tell me if i have to leave the country . " he said the law was most frightening for what it does not specify . " it does n't say which groups are targeted , " he noted . " how will they choose ? will they do it like fascist regimes , by marking people ? nobody knows how nationalistic this country is going to get . "

has a location of russia

dr . michael e . debakey , the american heart surgery pioneer , arrived here today for a meeting with boris n . yeltsin 's doctors on monday to clear the russian_president for a heart bypass_operation . but russian officials , maintaining a wall of secrecy , whisked dr . debakey away before he could speak to reporters waiting at moscow 's sheremetevo airport . in interviews from his office at baylor college of medicine in houston last week , dr . debakey said that if tests confirmed that mr . yeltsin was fit for the operation , it could be performed as early as wednesday . however , in sharp contrast to dr . debakey 's specificity , a kremlin spokesman was deliberately vague today about the timing of the operation , saying it could happen anytime in the next several weeks . the kremlin 's vagueness seemed to be in keeping with the wishes of mr . yeltsin 's daughter , tatyana dyachenko . dr . debakey said that she had asked that no news releases or interviews be permitted until after the operation . a health worker involved in mr . yeltsin 's care said today that the president looks healthy , is in good spirits and often cracks jokes with his doctors , and that preparations have been made for the operation this week . mr . yeltsin 's wife , naina , said in a television interview on saturday ''of course he is worried , but he is outwardly calm . he has a good contact with his doctors . '' dr . debakey said last week that he advised his russian colleagues not to clamp down on information about the impending operation because such a policy could easily lead to false rumors . in the past , rumors that mr . yeltsin was incapacitated by a stroke or even was dead have affected international stock markets . the hush hush atmosphere in moscow today contrasted to dr . debakey 's arrival six weeks ago when he spoke to reporters before he examined mr . yeltsin . dr . debakey was the first independent international consultant in mr . yeltsin 's case . at a news conference following his examination , dr . debakey greatly eased world concern over mr . yeltsin 's health , by saying he expected that the 65 year old leader would be ready for a multi vessel coronary_bypass operation in 6 to 10 weeks if unassociated medical problems cleared up . mr . yeltsin 's medical problems included a severe anemia , bleeding from the intestine and an underactive thyroid . all these problems have cleared up with medical treatment , although direct examination of mr . yeltsin 's stomach and colon through fiberoptic tubes did not identify a precise source of the bleeding , dr . debakey said . the doctors also wanted to give mr . yeltsin a few more weeks for his heart function to improve after it had declined after a heart_attack that was stopped in progress last summer . indeed , mr . yeltsin 's heart function has improved according to a standard ultrasound test , dr . debakey said . dr . debakey said he would not take part in mr . yeltsin 's operation .

has a location of russia

on nov . 20 , 1990 , in rostov on don , chief inspector issa kostoev of the russian attorney_general 's office arrested andrei romanovich chikatilo . inspector kostoev was convinced that mr . chikatilo , a 54 year old industrial engineer , grandfather and zealous communist , was the serial_killer who had murdered and cannibalized women and children for 12 years throughout the soviet_union . the following adaptation describes the crucial eighth day of interrogation . on oct . 15 , 1992 , mr . chikatilo was sentenced to death for committing 52 murders . he is appealing the verdict on grounds of insanity . chikatilo was startled , just as kostoev had intended . it was n't his lawyer he found in the room but a photographer who was still fussing with his equipment as chikatilo entered . " today , " said kostoev in a businesslike tone , " we are going to take some pictures of you . " with a movement of his head , kostoev indicated two sealed bags in one corner of the room . " those bags contain your clothes which we confiscated when we searched your apartment . i 'll tell you which ones to wear and how to stand . " the message was clear . kostoev was assuming direct physical command over chikatilo . if he told chikatilo to remove his clothes , chikatilo would have to remove them . another message was being transmitted to chikatilo , that photographs were taken for one reason only to show witnesses for purposes of identification . that , in turn , meant that kostoev had lost all hope in chikatilo 's cooperation and would therefore prepare an indictment for murder . " allright , please stand up , andrei romanovich , and remove your overalls . " kostoev watched chikatilo take off his black labor_camp overalls . through his obedience , chikatilo had been made to feel the power of the state and kostoev 's personality , and the full weight of the case against him . chikatilo was naked now except for his shorts and prison slippers . " these first , andrei romanovich , " said kostoev , handing him the first set of clothes . chikatilo stepped resentfully into the brown pants . good , thought kostoev , let him be unhappy . i 'll be unhappy with him , he 'll be unhappy with me . chikatilo pulled on a gray shirt and began buttoning it . " and the cap , " kostoev ordered . " face the camera , " he said , watching to make sure chikatilo complied before nodding to the photographer . " now put on this hat , " said kostoev , wanting to move quickly . the flash continually going off in chikatilo 's face would shock his nerves . " now this one . " another flash lit the bare room . " now with these pants and this shirt . " chikatilo was more aware of the photographer as he undressed a second time . kostoev was making him stand naked in front of a stranger . kostoev smiled when he saw chikatilo grimace to distort his features and make his face harder to identify . " this cap . " " this hat . " even as he barked orders , kostoev still managed to occupy the moral high ground of the injured party . he had shown chikatilo his trust , had confided in him that he could not believe him sane , no sane man could ever have done what he 'd done . he had offered chikatilo the chance of help , treatment , a humane offer that had been suicidally spurned . kostoev could see that chikatilo was weakening . but kostoev also knew this was a man fighting for his life and in a position stronger than he knew . kostoev had scant circumstantial_evidence merely placing chikatilo in the vicinity of several murders and just two more days to obtain a confession before the suspect could walk away . " sit down , " said kostoev , " i want this one of you sitting . " the walls of the room were reverberating with flashes . " all right , we 're done . you can put your overalls back on . " chikatilo would have to undress one more time . the photographer packed up his equipment . " thank you , " said kostoev to the photographer . " and , do n't forget , i want them developed immediately . " you wo n't need your lawyer today , andrei romanovich , because i have no intention of questioning you , " said kostoev . it was , as much as anything , a farewell . " still , there is one thing i would like to say , andrei romanovich . i do n't understand why you choose not to cooperate . from speaking with you i know that you are an intelligent man . " as i 've told you , you 're not the first murderer i 've ever sat with in a room like this . and you wo n't be the last . i sit with people like you and try to help put them back in touch with life and people . but you had even more to gain than that . you had a choice between treatment and execution . and if you were cured , do you think they 'd keep you in the hospital or put you in prison ? no . you 'd be a free man . are you really so twisted that you would prefer death to that ? " kostoev spoke evenly but there was doom in his voice , the doom of iron doors slamming in brick walls , the blast of a pistol behind the ear . chikatilo disappeared into silence . but this time it was not only a retreat from the unbearable pressures of the bare interrogation room . chikatilo was going to make his decision now . if he waited until tomorrow , the ninth day , it might be too late . chikatilo emerged from his silence , though still without saying a word . in the formal tone of voice used to conclude proceedings , kostoev asked " do you have any complaints or requests , andrei romanovich ? " chikatilo hesitated for a moment , then burst into sobs , his soul streaming toward the freedom only truth can give . " i would like to write out my statement , " said chikatilo , his tone so emotionally exhausted that even speech was an effort . " is it going to be the same thing again , without any details ? " asked kostoev . " no , " said chikatilo , " i understand everything now . " chikatilo covered four sheets of paper . after signing his name in the bottom right hand corner , chikatilo handed them to kostoev . " after my arrest , i have been questioned several times and asked to speak about my criminal activities . my inconsistent behavior should not be judged as any attempt to evade responsibility for what i have wrought . some people may think that , after my arrest , i have not been cognizant of the danger and gravity of what i have done . i want to be believed when i say that is not so at all . my case is by nature exceptional . " it is not the fear of taking responsibility that forced me to act that way but the intensity , the pressure on my nerves and psyche . i do n't know why but everyone considered me an idiot . i always thought people underestimated me , but those who do n't agree always treat me strangely , without logic or justice . i tortured myself writing complaints . i took all that tension inside me . and that made for nightmares and insomnia . " the charges brought against me fill me with horror . i can not bear being conscious of all that and expressing it . i think my heart would burst . i 've wanted to be cured for a long time , but i did n't seek help . . . . everything irritated me , all those conversations about the weather , is it good , is it bad . i carried all that fury inside myself and found no way to vent it . if possible , i would like my psyche to be treated , if it is abnormal . than i could help the investigation establish the truth and i could bear the punishment i deserve . i am ready to testify about the crimes i have committed but i do request that you not torment me with details and specifics . my mind could not bear it . after treatment i will attempt to reconstruct everything from memory . " kostoev looked up at chikatilo to gauge his sincerity . chikatilo meant it . chikatilo was broken . richard lourie is author , most recently , of " hunting the devil , " from which this article is adapted .

has a location of russia

president_bush and president boris n . yeltsin made new arms control proposals this week that envision slashing american and russian long range nuclear_arms by well over half and could eliminate the class of missiles considered the biggest threat to peace . but mr . bush 's proposal , outlined in the state of the union address on tuesday , asks mr . yeltsin to take a step that no soviet leader ever entertained give up his advantage in one area of nuclear_arms competition , land based missiles , in return for an important concession but not parallel cuts in the area of american advantage , submarine based missiles . mr . bush 's plan would reduce the american strategic nuclear_arsenal to between 4 , 500 and 5 , 000 warheads , about 60 percent of the current level and far less than envisioned in last year 's strategic_arms_reduction_treaty . multiple_warhead_missiles it would eliminate missiles with more than one warhead that are fired from land , the most dangerous kind of nuclear_weapon and the mainstay of the soviet nuclear_force . in exchange , the united_states would sharply reduce its stock of weapons launched from submarines , which are the ones the russians worry about the most , but washington would retain an edge . in response , mr . yeltsin said today that he would propose cutting long range nuclear_warheads to between 2 , 000 and 2 , 500 . that did not appear to include cruise_missiles and bombs dropped from airplanes , but would still mean a total significantly lower than what mr . bush suggested . page_a8 . administration officials said prospects were good for some sort of an agreement , which mr . bush and mr . yeltsin will begin discussing at camp_david on saturday . mr . bush on tuesday described mr . yeltsin 's early response as " very positive . " offer called 'lopsided' but soviet officials visiting the united_states in advance of mr . yeltsin 's arrival for a united_nations_security_council meeting on friday are reported to have said in conversations here that mr . yeltsin found the offer " lopsided " and told mr . bush so in a letter received by the white_house on monday . mr . yeltsin had been advised in advance of mr . bush 's proposal . mr . yeltsin also made clear in a speech today that his government will continue to oppose washington 's " star_wars " anti missile program unless the united_states agrees to share the technology , something the bush_administration has refused to consider . both sides have indicated in recent days that they recognize that the dynamics of arms control have been transformed . just last week , mr . yeltsin announced that russian nuclear_missiles would no longer be aimed at american targets , and the pentagon has long conceded there is no apparent military threat from what used to be the soviet_union . indeed , administration officials said these sorts of developments led mr . bush to propose the concessions that soviet leaders always refused , with some confidence that his ideas would be at least considered . 'out to sea' " this is what we 've been trying to do since the beginning of strategic arms negotiations in 1969 'push the soviets out to sea , ' where we have our missiles , " said dunbar lockwood , a senior analyst with the arms_control_association , a private research group . he added , " it has always been our premise that it 's more stabilizing to have the bulk of missiles in subs , because they are invisible under the sea and therefore more useful for retaliation and not an attractive target for someone considering a first strike . " as dramatic as the newly proposed cuts may seem , arms control is not the only item on the agenda for saturday 's meeting , nor perhaps even the most pressing . the white_house views the meeting as a chance for mr . bush to impress on mr . yeltsin the need to continue political and economic_liberalization without russia imposing its will on other former republics . 'big brother fashion' " we believe there is a need for all the former soviet republics to move forward along these lines , mutually and not in big brother fashion , " an administration official said . " the russians have shown a tendency to confuse their national interests with those of the peoples surrounding them . " mr . bush also planned to give what one official called his " imprimatur " to mr . yeltsin 's economic policies , which washington hopes will give the russian leader a political boost at home , in much the same way that mr . bush once sought to shore up president mikhail s . gorbachev . equally important , officials said , mr . bush hopes to establish with mr . yeltsin the kind of personal rapport and working relationship that he had with mr . gorbachev . " it 's the first time he 's met with yeltsin that bush has n't had to worry about the problem of dual power and conflicting loyalties , " a senior official said . another official said , " the only alternative to yeltsin that we can see is dictatorship and so we want to , a , make sure that he 's politically entrenched and , b , make sure as we did with gorbachev that he follows the path of democracy and reform . " 1991 arms treaty last july , the united_states and the soviet_union signed the strategic_arms_reduction_treaty , which calls for reducing the american arsenal of about 11 , 600 nuclear_warheads aboard ballistic_missiles , jet like cruise_missiles and bombs dropped by airplanes to about 8 , 600 before the end of the century . the soviet arsenal would be cut from about 10 , 900 warheads to about 6 , 900 . nuclear_arms treaties deal with warheads , which are the actual nuclear bombs , rather than the missiles that carry them , because modern missiles can carry more than 10 warheads apiece . these missiles are considered dangerous or " destabilizing " because they are tempting targets for the other country 's military planners . on sept . 27 , in announcing unilateral cuts in short range nuclear_weapons that are used on the battlefield , mr . bush offered to negotiate an elimination of multiple_warhead_missiles with the soviet_union . cutting soviet arsenal on tuesday , mr . bush proposed that russia , ukraine and kazakhstan eradicate all of their huge , multiple_warhead_missiles based on land . this would have the additional benefit to the united_states of removing all intercontinental missiles from ukrainian and kazakh soil . the united_states has in the past proposed eliminating multiple_warhead_missiles fired from land and the kremlin has always refused , because the united_states was not willing to consider cuts in its submarine launched missiles . this time , mr . bush offered to do just that if the other three countries accepted his proposal . he said he would eliminate about one third of the warheads aboard american trident submarines , reducing the force from 3 , 456 warheads to about 2 , 300 . he went a step further by saying he would also destroy america 's newest and most powerful land based weapon , the 10 warhead mx missile , and lower the number of warheads aboard the minuteman 3 missile to one from three . if these ideas are adopted , the united_states would be left with about 2 , 800 warheads on its long range missiles . the rest of the arsenal is composed of bombs dropped by aircraft and cruise_missiles , similar to conventionally armed versions used against iraq last year . it is not clear how many of each kind of missile mr . bush intends to keep .

has a location of russia

fueled by a convergence of surging drug abuse and increased sexual activity , russia stands on the precipice of an aids epidemic every bit as explosive as the one that swept through europe and the united_states 15 years ago . the nation 's leading aids experts , fully aware after the fall of communism that an open society would bring a rising risk of all sexually_transmitted_diseases , have long forecast that the number of reported aids cases would climb . although the raw numbers are minuscule here compared with those in africa or even the united_states , officials routinely state that reported infections represent no more than 10 percent of the true figures . but even they tell a harrowing story of the rapid , exponential advance of the epidemic in a country whose health_care budget has far more in common with those of the third world than with the united_states , where expensive new drugs have brought hope to many . ''this epidemic started slowly in russia , '' said aleksandr goliusov , the health ministry 's chief aids specialist . ''but now it has caught on fire . before we could talk about controlling it or limiting the damage . now the catastrophe is real . '' last year , 1 , 500 new h.i.v . cases were reported in russia , more than the official figure for the first nine years of the epidemic combined . for the first quarter of this year , according to preliminary data from the health ministry , the numbers have already outstripped those for 1996 . taking into consideration the many cases that are never reported , federal health officials now say that by the end of 1997 there could be 100 , 000 people infected with h.i.v. , the virus that causes aids , in russia . and by 2000 , they believe the figure will be 800 , 000 . there are many reasons for the huge surge of h.i.v . infection in russia , and most of them are related . the vast majority of new infections are among russia 's 600 , 000 intravenous_drug_abusers who are most efficient at spreading the virus and least susceptible to counseling or education efforts of any kind . poor border control in the chaotic aftermath of the fall of the soviet_union has permitted the smuggling and abuse of narcotics to soar over the last five years . and a new era of complete freedom has caused sexually_transmitted_diseases like syphilis , herpes and gonorrhea to spread more rapidly here than anywhere else in the world . the prevalence of sexually_transmitted_diseases has always been an excellent barometer for the incidence of aids in part because those diseases can increase the possibility of h.i.v . infections , and in part because they provide a good way to measure the sexual activity of a population . in 1996 , according to government statistics , 10 million people in russia had some sexually_transmitted disease . russia had 217 cases of syphilis per 100 , 000 people , a rate that is more than 50 times those in the united_states or europe . seven years ago the figure for russia was only 6 cases per 100 , 000 . ''how can there possibly be an enormous epidemic of diseases like syphilis and almost no spread of aids ? '' said dr . irina g . savchenko , an epidemiologist at the russian aids center in moscow . ''there ca n't be . either there are too many cases of syphilis or there are too few of aids . and , believe me , we are not overreporting syphilis . '' the impact of the epidemic has been heightened by the almost complete lack of educational or preventive measures available . when aids was first reported here in 1987 , the earliest victims were gay men and the illness was treated by soviet authorities as the evil effect of a bourgeois , western style life . by the early 1990 's , when political instability became the central fact of russian life , even tentative efforts to teach aids awareness came to a halt . in 1991 , just at the moment when russia 's sexual freedoms became most obvious and pronounced , the institute of preventive_medicine stopped translating aids information booklets from foreign languages . money for even the most basic treatment became difficult to find . the situation has only become worse since then , because russia is a country that has almost no money to spend on health_care . according to the world_health_organization , a united_nations agency , a country should devote at least 5 percent of its gross_domestic_product to basic health_care . russia spends 2.2 percent . health ministry figures suggest that it will cost at least 5 billion a year to treat russia 's aids patients in the year 2000 . today the entire federal health budget for the country is only twice that . ''do you think it 's a coincidence that the death rate in russia exceeds the birth_rate by 70 percent ? '' said nikolai gerasimenky , chairman of the health_care committee in the parliament . ''we do not invest in the health of our citizens . i think we should have learned from the experience of others that prevention costs less than treatment and that if we do n't spend money on aids education people are going to die . '' but that money is not going to be available soon . in 1995 the health ministry received less than half the money budgeted for its aids program , according to dr . goliusov . last year , it received no money at all for education or prevention efforts . there is no drug or vaccine development effort here . this year the budget for aids prevention and treatment programs is 8 million . but so far , the health ministry has not received a penny . the epidemic here has hit cities like moscow with one quarter of all cases and other transit centers . kaliningrad , the tiny russian outpost on the baltic_sea through which many narcotics are smuggled , also has a high rate of infection as do port and airport cities like st . petersburg , novorossisk and nizhny novgorod . in the last four months , nearly as many cases 325 have been registered in krasnoyarsk as were registered in moscow in the first five years of the epidemic . russia is not the only formerly communist country to be deeply affected by the aids epidemic . while rates of h.i.v . infection are not nearly as high in eastern_europe as they are in russia , they are far higher than those of western_europe . and in the former soviet republics of belarus and ukraine , where drug addiction has also surged in the last five years , the rates of infection in some cities may be even higher than those in russia . liquid opiates have created a large part of the problem . thanks to an enormous flow of poppies from afghanistan to the west , opium is now often available as an inexpensive liquid . smugglers often sample it and then stick used needles into large jars containing up to a gallon of the drug a result is that the entire stock which will be used by scores of others becomes infected . ignorance about aids and reluctance to take precautions are still more the rule than the exception in russia . the number of prostitutes working in moscow has grown markedly in just the last year . they often line the streets at night , waiting for drivers to stop and make them an offer . asked if they used condoms recently , three young women who had taken up their posts on the ring road one of the city 's main thoroughfares laughed . ''this is my job , '' said one of them as she shrugged . ''and those guys in the cars are my bosses . look at all the other girls out here . now do you think i can tell my bosses to wear a condom ? ''

has a location of russia

russia 's supreme_court today threw out the verdict in the nation 's most contentious criminal trial , ruling that a military court ignored procedure when it absolved a prominent army colonel of responsibility in the strangling of an 18 year old chechen woman in march 2000 . the ruling means that col . yuri budanov , who had been declared temporarily insane at the time of the killing , will stand trial again before a new judge . it was a stunning victory for the family of the slain woman , elza kungayeva , and for critics who have charged that colonel budanov 's trial was tainted by pressure from the military . ''at some stage on earth , a dictatorship of the law comes , '' abdullah khamzayev , the attorney for ms . kungayeva 's family , said jubilantly outside the courtroom . ''the law , equal for all white , black , bald , curly , irrespective of anything . '' mr . khamzayev was referring to a well known pledge by president vladimir v . putin , shortly after he took office three years ago , that the only dictatorship in the new russia would be a dictatorship of the law . in a telephone interview , he predicted that colonel budanov , who has been confined while receiving psychiatric treatment , would be found guilty in a new trial . colonel budanov , a decorated army commander in chechnya , had admitted strangling ms . kungayeva after abducting her from her home in chechnya three years ago . but he claims that he killed her in a fit of rage because she had been identified as a sniper for chechen guerrillas . her body , clad only in underwear , was found in a grave where soldiers had carried it on his orders . a specialist 's conclusion that she had been raped was later removed from a forensic autopsy report . colonel budanov was examined several times by teams of psychiatrists before the court accepted a diagnosis last december that he had been insane at the time of the murder . in its ruling today , a military collegium of the supreme_court stated that the judge in the case had ignored evidence that colonel budanov had suffered no mental problems in the six months before the murder . the court also stated that the judge had ignored the lack of any evidence that ms . kungayeva was a sniper , as the colonel had alleged . in an interview this evening , mr . khamzayev said that he had been repeatedly barred by the military judge from presenting witnesses he said were crucial to the case , including several who would have challenged colonel budanov 's account of the murder . mr . khamzayev , once a top official in the chief prosecutor 's office of the former soviet_union , had argued that mr . budanov had spotted and photographed ms . kungayeva well before her abduction , and that he had seized her for sexual purposes . ''today 's decision said that the court violated the equality of the sides , '' he said . ''it infringed on the victim 's rights . '' ms . kungayeva 's father , isa kungayev , told the russian television ntv tonight that the ruling was an unexpected victory for the rule of law . ''when i was coming here yesterday , my younger daughter said , 'father , where are you going ? there 's no justice there , ' '' he said . ''when i go back , i will tell my daughter , 'here is justice taking the upper hand , at last . ' i am very happy . ''

has a location of russia

the human_rights group memorial said it had unearthed a mass_grave near st . petersburg that may contain thousands of victims of stalin 's terror in 1937 and 1938 . the grave near a military firing range in the forest outside toksovo , about 20 miles north of st . petersburg was discovered last month . forensic experts have discovered 50 separate pits containing bones , including skulls showing evidence of execution . a site with some 8 , 000 remains was discovered north of st . petersburg in 1996 but a memorial spokeswoman told the interfax news_agency that the new site could hold as many as 30 , 000 remains . steven_lee myers ( nyt )

has a location of russia

in russia , a child is everybody 's business , and perfect strangers think nothing of offering their uninvited advice . teachers got plenty of it today , as 19 million russian children started a new school year in a new country with plenty of problems . there are shortages of money , teachers and textbooks . and in a new candor unlikely even during the most liberal days of the old soviet_union , education minister eduard d . dneprov disclosed that across the vast expanse of russia , 29 percent of the schools have no heat , 38 percent have no running water , and nearly half have no sewage systems . but for vera muravskaya , mother of 7 year old ira , starting her first day in the traditional brown dress and white apron , with a white nylon bow in her blond_hair and gladiolus gripped in her hand for her teacher , the feelings were as familiar as those of any mother at any time in russian history . " she 's afraid , " mrs . muravskaya said of ira , who , of course , wants to be a ballerina . " but i think i 'm more nervous than she is . i feel like i 'm going myself . " parents and children gathered by 7 30 a.m . in bolshoi vuzovsky lane in central moscow , outside what was once school 1227 and is now the pokrovsky classical gymnasium . as usual , a little first grader was carried aloft , ringing a bell , and the 16 and 17 year olds , entering 11th_grade , their last year here , led the first graders by the hand into the school . but the traditional welcoming speech by the school director , nikolai m . frankevich , 35 , was short and nonideological . and instead of the red pioneer scarves and pins a visitor would have once seen , there are now a few gold crosses around young necks , and a lot of eye makeup . ira was in traditional russian school dress , but the older students have had no required uniform for three years now , and instead of demure blue skirts or trousers , there were jeans , sportshirts , miniskirts and even some red stockings . andrei pozdnyakov , 15 , wore a shirt printed with dollar bills and smoked american cigarettes , which makes him modish these days . in conversation he 's polite and fascinated by chemistry and medicine . marya lisyevich , 16 and a senior , wore a two piece black outfit , with bare midriff , that might have graced a dance floor . she intends to go to moscow_state_university and study chinese . in her years at this school , which specializes in foreign languages , she 's been able to study subjects like psychology , philosophy and rhetoric , as well as french and english . she particularly likes american slang . her favorite expression ? " oh , i like , 'it 's my own business , ' " she said , which may not be slang , but it 's as good a theme as any for this new school year in a much changed russia . why the two piece outfit ? " it 's my last year , " she said , " and i wanted to wear something special . " inside , there was not a portrait of lenin to be seen , not to mention marx , engels or even boris n . yeltsin . mr . frankevich , in a gray pinstriped suit , was all enthusiasm . " we think schools should be different , as all kids are different , " he said , speaking in a refurbished office with a grandfather clock . moscow university 's first " classical gymnasium " originally a german form of secondary_school was housed here until the gymnasiums were banished after the bolshevik revolution . mr . frankevich is especially proud of the teachers who , with the help of teachers from moscow_state_university , devised a new curriculum for 10th and 11th_graders to include natural sciences and latin taught from new texts . in april , he said , a special commission allowed the school to call itself a " classical gymnasium " again . there are now courses in ancient history and ancient_rome , mr . frankevich said . for modern history , there are new texts and articles taken from contemporary journals . rewriting history again " history of the fatherland , " a new textbook for russian 11th_graders , published this year , goes through the breakup of the soviet_union last december . it gives a clear and almost neutral view of political events , speaking of deportations and the gulag , of chernobyl and andrei sakharov , and how " the presence of soviet_troops " in eastern_europe " created a powerful political and psychological background that helped soviet supporters come to power . " it treats struggles within the communist_party as the ordinary maneuverings of ordinary men , rather than of saints or icons , and at one point speaks of the party 's " political bankruptcy . " even 5th graders get a new course concentrating on their neighborhood 's history . vladimir bogoslovsky , a colonel in the russian_air_force whose daughter , masha , is entering the 6th grade , spoke appreciatively of her project last year into the environment of the neighborhood in the 16th_century . " i think education has to be different in a democratic russia , " colonel bogoslovsky said . " the children here are asked to do a lot of work on their own , and they act more like students and not like little soldiers . " sex_education is still a delicate topic , however . " in socialist times we closed our eyes and said there was no sex under socialism , and the problem was not really studied , " mr . frankevich said . " but we 'll solve it . " last year , he said , he showed an american sex_education video to 9th and 10th graders , " who reacted calmly . " parents get very involved , he said . the richer ones have created a fund for repairs and to increase teachers' salaries to nearly 5 , 000 rubles a month , only about 24 these days but well above the average russian teacher 's salary of 3 , 600 rubles . many teachers are going into private business or tutoring , and the education ministry says it needs 23 , 000 more secondary_school teachers . " i never tire of telling parents they must invest money in their kids , " mr . frankevich said . " a lot depends on who teaches them , and their environment determines what kind of people they will be . " money is a problem for nadezhda a . kopylova , 51 , director of a school on nearby mechnikova street . so she rented some space to the moscow school of managers , which also provides 10th and 11th_graders " a commercial course , " including , in russian , " menedzhment , marketing , komputer " and " business english . " it 's popular , she said " many of our best students are in it . " marya a . lazerova , director of school 330 in arkady gaidar street , still requires uniforms for her 500 pupils . but she is trying to introduce " extra services " for which parents will pay , like class trips and lectures by outside experts . " a lot of parents are against it , " mrs . lazerova said . " not because they ca n't pay . but the habit of getting things for free is very strong . " she spoke dismissively of schools that pick students partly on their parents' ability to pay , because gifts are sometimes required to assure admission to reputable schools . and there is a gradual growth of the number of private schools in large cities . but those visited today are all neighborhood schools that do not charge admission mr . frankevich does , however , accept students from all over moscow to fill empty slots on the basis of a competitive interview . mrs . lazerova has introduced a two track system starting in the 8th grade for students choosing to specialize in humanities or math and science . there is also a third track for slower children , which some parents dislike as a regression from traditional socialist equality . " the changes come so fast , a person ca n't change fast enough , " mrs . lazerova said . the level of public morality is falling , she complained . " we could paint in rosy colors , " she said , " but the children go out into the world and see black . " in fact , most of the schoolchildren interviewed today see the world vividly . " it 's a better world than before , " marya lisyevich , the language student , said . " there 's a lot of democratic feeling . "

has a location of russia

todd hays , the top bobsled driver for the united_states , crashed in a world_cup four man race yesterday in lake placid , n.y . hays 's team was disqualified and earned no points in the competition . the russian team , piloted by alexandre zoubkov , won the gold . john eligon sports briefing winter sports

has a location of russia

frustrated by russia 's repeated delays in launching a crucial component of the international_space_station , nasa said today that it was preparing to use an american substitute to get the project moving again . daniel s . goldin , the nasa administrator , said the united_states would complete and launch a new control module for the station that could replace the long delayed russian service_module . if the russian module , which is to include living quarters and is almost two years behind schedule , is not launched by july or early august , he said , the united_states will send up its component in december and move ahead with building the station . mr . goldin said the united_states and the other 14 nations participating in the 60 billion project wanted russia to be a partner but could not stand for further delays , which are jeopardizing the program . ''to say we are frustrated and disappointed is an understatement , '' mr . goldin said today in some of his strongest criticism to date . ''the russians have got to understand what the focus is here . '' mr . goldin said he was particularly troubled by the russians' recent decision to funnel more scarce resources back into the 14 year old mir_space_station , which was abandoned in august and was to have been mothballed . but there has been fervor to continue using mir by russian nationalists , who see it as the last vestige of a once great independent space_program . ''their primary issue is to meet their commitments to the international_space_station , '' mr . goldin said . ''the russians have to decide if they want to work with other countries . '' his comments raise the stakes for a meeting this month in moscow , when officials of the national_aeronautics_and_space_administration are to meet with their russian counterparts to review the program , discuss rocket problems that have delayed the service_module , and set a date for putting the component into orbit . ''we want to see if they have a fire in the belly about getting the service_module up , '' mr . goldin said . mr . goldin also said he had called for an emergency meeting of all space_station partners for the end of the month or early march to look at the launching schedules and decide how the program should proceed . russian space officials said recently that they expected to launch the service_module , which is to connect with two sections already in space , by july or august . to guard against further delays and restart building of the orbiting station , mr . goldin said , he has ordered completion of a so called interim control module that would be launched on a space_shuttle in december . the new module will become part of the station , but serve a slightly different role , even if the russians attach their module on time , he said . the first two components of the station , one each supplied by russia and the united_states , have been in orbit since late 1998 awaiting the next russian component . the service_module , which was to have followed in five months , is to provide living quarters , laboratory space and flight control for the station during its early construction phase . dr . john logsdon , director of the space policy institute at george_washington_university , said nasa 's decision to use the interim control module showed that the united_states had lost patience with russian space_station delays and the diversion of resources to mir . ''this puts a stake in the ground prior to the russian meeting and says there is a certain limit beyond which we ca n't wait , '' dr . logsdon said . ''it got to where nasa had no real choice but to do this . '' congressional critics of russian involvement in the space_station program also saw the decision as a step forward . representative dave weldon , a florida republican who recently called for nasa to use the interim module , said the decision would finally allow the program to proceed without the russians . ''it is high time that nasa finally woke up and decided that the russians were not going to come through on the service_module , '' he said . the interim control module , a contingency nasa proposed in 1997 , was developed by the naval research laboratory using components it designed to maneuver spy_satellites for the pentagon . the module , which mr . goldin said would cost more than 200 million to build , test and launch , provides control and maneuvering power for the station , but no research or living space . not having the service_module on the station would delay its permanent staffing by astronauts , mr . goldin said , but crews could work there during space_shuttle visits . if the russian unit is launched in time , mr . goldin said , the american module will still be sent to the station , but in 2001 . having both units would make the station ' 'more robust , '' he said . critics of russia 's involvement said that having the extra propulsion unit aboard would make the orbital outpost less dependent on refueling flights from russia . to launch the service_module on time , the russians must fix problems that have cropped up in its proton rockets , one of which is to launch the critical module . two proton rockets were destroyed last year in launching mishaps , and the russians say they need to fly several of the rockets to test solutions to the problems before trying to launch the service_module . mr . goldin said it was up to russia to fix the rockets in a timely manner , but space_station partners would be monitoring these efforts to judge their effect on the program . the united_states cannot tell russia how to operate its rockets or the mir_space_station , mr . goldin emphasized . but the other countries involved in the space_station program have a right to be concerned with russian space operations that ' 'sap their strength'' and reduce resources for the international project , he said . ''we want the russians in the program , '' mr . goldin said , however , ''in no way is the operation of mir to interfere with their commitments to the international_space_station . we are at the moment of truth . ''

has a location of russia

confronted with a new spate of rumors about president boris n . yeltsin 's health , his chief of staff went on television tonight to rebuke the political opposition , saying it was fomenting tensions during mr . yeltsin 's working holiday on the black_sea . " the opposition 's leaders try to push society to a breakdown , spreading rumors stating that the president 's health has allegedly worsened or that a coup is being prepared , " sergei filatov , mr . yeltsin 's chief of staff , said in an interview on the main nightly news program . it was the second time in less than a month that mr . filatov had appeared on television to fend off queries about the president 's condition . the last time was in february , after mr . yeltsin postponed a scheduled speech to the parliament because of what was described as a severe cold that laid him low for more than a week . withdrawn from public view except for back pain linked to an old accident , there has never been official medical confirmation that mr . yeltsin suffers from any ailment . but in the last two years , he has periodically withdrawn from public view , fueling rumors about heavy drinking and other medical problems . speculation about mr . yeltsin 's health peaked again this week after he left the capital for what had been billed as a two week holiday in sochi , a resort on the black_sea coast . in the last two days , three different russian news program mentioned the rumors , only to discount them with reports that the president had spent his time at the seaside working , meeting earlier in the week with prime_minister viktor s . chernomyrdin , and on friday taking a helicopter tour of the krasnodar region , where sochi is situated . but a new mystery about mr . yeltsin 's activities surfaced today when the italian newspaper la_stampa , quoting aleksandr n . yakovlev , chief of russian broadcasting , reported that mr . yeltsin had left sochi on friday and gone to his country_house outside of moscow . according to guilietto chiesa , la_stampa 's moscow correspondent , mr . yakovlev said in an interview on friday evening that the president was in good health , and had a schedule of meetings planned in the kremlin for monday . time of political crisis since then , there have been no other reports about mr . yeltsin 's return to moscow , making the comments by mr . yakovlev , a former adviser president mikhail s . gorbachev and a respected senior political figure , all the more puzzling . the questions surrounding the president 's condition have underscored his recent political passivity , at a time when a number of critical political and economic issues have come to a head . before he left moscow on monday , mr . yeltsin called for a new truce with his political opposition but that appeal was rebuffed when leaders of several factions , including communists and some russian nationalists , this week patched together a new coalition to oppose his policies .

has a location of russia

insurgents attacked at least nine police and security buildings on thursday in this southern russian city in coordinated daylight raids , witnesses and the authorities said , further spreading russia 's battle beyond its roots in the breakaway republic of chechnya . russian officials said at least 85 people had been killed , most of them insurgents . one band of the masked_gunmen overwhelmed a police station and captured hostages , including police officers , and held them into the night . two gun shops were also sacked . on friday morning , a senior official for the interior_ministry said all the hostages had been freed , and the terrorists who had held them had been killed in an early morning action . russian officials cautioned that the military operation was continuing and that the death count could rise . according to initial tallies , 12 police officers and 12 civilians were among those killed . there were also signs of a planned russian sweep of areas suspected to hold more gunmen , as a senior government official announced that president vladimir v . putin had told the authorities to block the routes in and out of nalchik , and had ordered the destruction of any insurgents who resisted . a local radio_station called on residents to stay in their homes . ''the president has ordered us to keep every militant within nalchik and to eliminate any armed person resisting detention , '' said first deputy interior_minister aleksandr chekalin . ''the order of the president will be fulfilled . '' armored_vehicles and a heavy presence of russian troops set up checkpoints . the city , which was almost fully under the authorities' control by late afternoon , fell mostly quiet at night . the attacks , in russia 's caucasus region , took place in a city that had remained free until now of the worst violence that has stalked southwestern russia since war began in nearby chechnya in 1994 , and cast fresh doubts on the kremlin 's insistence that the region has been stabilizing and returning to its control . violence this year had already flared anew in dagestan , where insurgents have been killing police officers and soldiers with near regularity , and last year guerrillas and terrorists conducted large operations in the nearby republics of ingushetia and north ossetia , where 331 people died in the school siege in beslan . a web_site that often carries messages from the chechen terrorist shamil basayev , who planned the school siege in beslan , said the attackers were islamic fighters aligned with chechen separatists . it said the attacking bands included local cells as well as fighters from elsewhere who had traveled to the republic for battle . the fresh attacks sent ripples through the region . the president of the kremlin installed government in chechnya announced that his local forces had been put on alert , as did leaders in ingushetia . ramzan kadyrov , the leader of an irregular force of former chechen guerrillas that is at least publicly loyal to moscow , offered to send his fighters to nalchik 's aid . nalchik itself , a city of about 275 , 000 and the capital of the internal russian_republic of kabardino balkariya , was crowded with reinforcements , including special russian army units . late thursday night , convoys of trucks carrying soldiers and an armored_personnel_carrier were also visible on the roads north of the city , heading toward it . the attacks on thursday were also reminiscent of a raid in june 2004 in nearby ingushetia , when mr . basayev led hundreds of guerrillas in simultaneous attacks against police and security offices and barracks . nearly 100 people were killed , and hundreds of weapons stolen before mr . basayev and his gunmen slipped away . kabardino balkariya , a small and principally muslim republic with a stagnant economy and about 800 , 000 residents , has been destabilized in recent years by what the authorities describe as the growing presence of islamic guerrillas and terrorists , who have had several smaller skirmishes with the authorities . its long serving president , whose recent management of the republic was criticized for corruption and a repressive police force , was replaced only two weeks ago by a moscow businessman and kremlin loyalist , arsen kanokov . mr . kanokov , 48 and an ethnic kabardin , arrived at a time when the insurgency had deepened . late last year , an islamic group , yarmuk , was accused of seizing a drug police post , executing four officers , and then escaping with a cache of arms and munitions . early this week , the police announced the discovery of a large bomb laboratory here . marina kyasova , spokeswoman for the republic 's interior_ministry , said thursday 's violence began when law enforcement officers raided an apartment in belaya rechka , an area on the outskirts of the city , at 3 a.m. , trapping several suspected islamic terrorists inside . the men , who were suspected of being connected to the recently raided bomb laboratory , resisted fiercely , she said . and at 9 a.m. , as the fight in belaya rechka continued , the police realized they were being attacked elsewhere throughout the city , she said . insurgents attacked three police district buildings , she said , as well the headquarters of the interior_ministry , the office of the special riot_police , a police foot patrol command , a counterterrorism center , an office of the corrections department , and a building used by the f.s.b. , or federal_security_service , one of russia 's successors to the k.g.b . two gun shops were also struck at the same time , in an effort by the insurgents to gather weapons . liuan gunzhafov , 26 , a lawyer who lives above the arsenal gun shop on kirova street , said he saw a car and a tractor carrying a total of seven masked men arrive at the store at 9 a.m . with several insurgents with kalashnikov assault_rifles standing guard , others tied ropes and cable to the shop 's window bars , and used the tractor to tug the bars free of the window frame . after masked men climbed through the window to try stealing the store 's contents , he said , two traffic police officers arrived . a gunfight ensued . one police_officer was killed , he said , but not before three insurgents were also shot and the other four had fled . blood was pooled in the parking_lot , where two black ski_masks had also been left behind . the masked men , who spoke russian , had seemed uninterested in the civilians who peered at them or drove past , mr . gunzhafov said . they simply warned people to stay clear . ''i leaned over the balcony to watch and one wagged his finger at me , '' he said . at government buildings , however , the insurgents fought . the f.s.b . said it had turned back the assault on its building , although one officer was killed . most of the other attacks were rebuffed as well , ms . kyasova said , but police district no . 3 was overrun , and at least seven gunmen remained inside with hostages . ms . kyasova said the ministry had confirmed that there were hostages because it had spoken to some of them by telephone . the area around the building was surrounded by police officers in the night . the interior_ministry declined to say how many hostages were inside , or their condition . one official , speaking on condition of anonymity because he said he was forbidden to speak publicly about a continuing operation , said police officers were among them . as the authorities regained control of the city , the initial tallies indicated the 61 insurgents had been killed , as were 12 law enforcement officers and 12 civilians , ms . kyasova said . many more civilians and security officers were wounded , she said . it was not clear how many insurgents had attacked some officials said as many as 300 . but ms . kyasova said the ministry estimated that 80 or 100 fighters had attacked . she said some were local men , but ''there are also those who are from somewhere else . '' she declined to elaborate . she also said about half the insurgents wore civilian clothes , and the rest were in camouflage . nikolai n . zakharov , deputy spokesman for the f.s.b. , said in a telephone interview that it was too soon to know the number of attackers , or their precise affiliations . there were scattered reports that at least one school had been seized , but that was denied by the pro chechen web_site , www . kavkazcenter . com , and as well as by dmitry kozak , the kremlin envoy in the region . similarly , the interior_ministry said early reports that the airport had been attacked were incorrect rather , two ministry officials said , airport security forces had assisted the police in a skirmish nearby . correction_october 15 , 2005 , saturday a map yesterday with an article about an insurgent attack on police and security buildings in nalchik , capital of a southern russian_republic , misspelled the republic 's name . it is kabardino balkariya , as the article said , not karbardino balkariya .

has a location of russia

the death toll climbed to 36 on monday in an early morning fire that raged through a five story dormitory full of african and asian students . the police said they were investigating the possibility of arson . deputy interior_minister rashid nurgaliyev reported at a meeting with president vladimir v . putin and cabinet members that there were ''no signs of criminal action'' in the fire at the people 's friendship university . he said the most likely cause was ''the malfunctioning of an electric household appliance . '' but by evening , education minister vladimir filippov , a former rector of the university , told reporters that investigators were trying to determine whether three young african women who lived in the room where the fire was thought to have begun were involved in starting it . some students said the women were dead . others said that they were in a hospital and denied that the fire had started in their room . mr . filippov said they were not in the room during the fire . ''the investigators are currently trying to find out why they ran away , or whether they intentionally set the room on fire , '' he said , according to the interfax news_agency . by evening , interfax reported that more than 170 people were still hospitalized , with 10 in critical condition . the fire left foreign students across moscow , who have already been the targets of skinhead attacks and other threats , feeling even more vulnerable . students huddling in the slush outside the charred building , where red carnations left in memory of the dead rested on mangled pieces of metal , described haphazard rescue efforts by emergency workers who distinguished the dead from the living with a tap on the chest . shattered from a night of carrying fellow students to ambulances and watching them struggle to break glass and jump out of windows , they spoke of a perpetual threat that hangs over students from third world countries studying in russia . ''we 've had bomb threats , '' said dailo encoge , a political_science student . ''a dormitory was evacuated on friday . '' a spokesman for the moscow city police denied that any threats had been received . the campus courtyards are filled with cafes with names like simbad and beirut . on monday evening , near the scene , one was decorated with balloons and flashing christmas lights . the stench of smoke was still heavy in the air . in hushed conversations in corridors of neighboring dormitories , residents spoke of bodies posed in window_frames in mid escape . ''i was afraid , '' said ant nio joakaim , a student from angola who lives in an adjacent dormitory that was engulfed in smoke as the fire spread . his shock was apparent in his tear filled eyes and nervous laughter . he said students had jumped out of the flaming building . ''i saw many people , '' he said . ''legs and arms were broken . '' mois s lopes of angola , who studies at a moscow technical university , said , ''i 'm going to return home . '' ''how can i stay here if they 're setting us on fire . i do n't think it was caused by electrical_appliances . '' he said he avoided the subway for fear of racial attacks . according to some reports , dormitory rooms were overcrowded and overloaded with electrical_appliances . sitting in the cramped room he shares with two other students , han , a journalism student from beijing who refused to give his last name , said their electric teakettle had been confiscated . ''i think i need to return to beijing , '' he said . ''i do n't have to be careful of fire , careful of hooligans , and careful of the militia there . '' police officers demanding bribes often shake down foreign students . the university , formerly named for patrice lumumba , the congolese revolutionary , opened in 1960 to serve students from the countries the soviet_union supported in africa , asia and latin_america . the moscow police told the interfax news_agency that dormitory residents included students from angola , china , vietnam , ecuador , ethiopia , afghanistan , ivory_coast and tahiti . many are refugees from wars . most victims had just arrived and knew no russian , which complicated efforts to treat them . an unsolved case of arson at the university killed seven in 1995 , russian television reported . on monday , at a neighboring grocery_store frequented by students , russian employees cried as they discussed the fire and the disorganized rescue effort . but they were n't surprised . they said they have seen it all before . ''it 's always like this here , '' one woman said .

has a location of russia