July 31, 1998   

Protesters decry joint exercises
By Mike Eckel
Demonstrators gathered outside the U.S. Consulate in Vladivostok Wednesday to protest six days of Russian-American military maneuvers scheduled to begin next week.

Hundreds battle raging Khabarovsk fires
By Nonna Chernyakova and Russell Working
After a month of hot weather and rainless skies, hundreds of firefighters, bulldozers and military vehicles are battling a 120,000-hectare swath of blazes raging through the Khabarovsk region's northern forests.

Russia, Japan hold first joint exercises
By Janina de Guzman
Russia and Japan set aside opposing territorial claims and disputes over fishing rights to join forces in the first joint naval exercises between the two Asian powers. The exercises took place in the Sea of Japan Tuesday through Thursday.

Nakhodka dumps pollutants into sea
Zolotoi Rog
Nakhodka has one of Primorye's best wastewater treatment facilities but still dumps half of its sewage into the sea untreated, the Primorye Environmental Prosecutor's Office said recently.

Primorye Enlists Cossacks to Patrol Border
By Russell Working
VLADIMIRO-ALEXANDROVSKOYE -- As during tsarist times, Russia's fearsome Cossacks are waiting for their riding orders.

Duma passes battered deficit budget
By Janina de Guzman and Anatoly Medetsky
In a one day session Tuesday, the Krai Duma passed the third and final reading of Primorye's 4.1 billion ruble ($660 million) 1998 budget while taking steps to prop up the region's heavy metal and chemical industries.

Miners block Sakhalin power station
By Mike Eckel
Authorities abruptly withdrew troops sent to break up a six-day miner's blockade of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk's main power plant Thursday as strikers and administration officials negotiated the payment of back wages.

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