Updated Aug. 19
Devaluation leaves Far East nervous
By Russell Working This spring Vladivostok pensioner Inna Kryuchkova had accumulated 5,000 rubles in the state Sberbank, but she was getting nervous.

Text of the government's devaluation statement

U.S., Russian naval forces wrap up joint exercises
By Mike Eckel
Russian Pacific Fleet and U.S. 7th Fleet forces wrapped up two days of joint humanitarian relief maneuvers Aug. 8, without incident or interference from right-wing protesters who had threatened to block the exercises with fishing trawlers and human chains.

Under the volcano:
Miners struggle to get by
By Russell Working
VAKHRUSHEV, Sakhalin-- When you have not been paid in 13 months, when a bulldozer operator's strike shuts down your mine but your bosses don't care because they are running a fishing business on the side, when you steal cabbages from your neighbors' dachas to feed your children, then the time has come for drastic measures.

Khabarovsk forest fires continue to burn
Interfax-Eurasia, Vladivostok News
KHABAROVSK- With over 180,000 hectares of forest burning well into their fourth week throughout Khabarovsky krai, federal and local authorities declared Aug. 10 the situation in the krai "critical."

Primorye observes 60th anniversary of the Khasan Events
By Janina de Guzman
Under heavy skies and a light drizzle, government and military officials, veterans, and locals gathered at Vladivostok's border guard monument near the Gaidamark trolley stop Aug. 7 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Soviet victory in a skirmish with Japanese troops near Lake Khasan, about 130 kilometers southwest of Vladivostok.

Primorsky miners ease off on threats
By Mike Eckel
Partizansk miners at the Nagornaya mining complex backed off on their threats to shut down the Trans-Siberian rail spur between Nakhodka and Partizansk Aug. 14, after receiving back wages and compensation payments from the Fuel and Energy Ministry.

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