Word: belarus
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That is the realization dawning throughout the 14 republics along its periphery that Moscow somewhat possessively refers to as the "near abroad." In the Baltics, Belarus, Ukraine and across Central Asia, Russia has been engaged in a bold game of restoring its influence. By applying pressure along ethnic fault lines and playing rival political factions against one another, Moscow has succeeded in making its presence count among its former vassals. At the same time, Russian diplomats have ventured farther abroad, playing a successful part in easing the Bosnian conflict -- most recently by persuading the Serbs to open the airport...
...bring down a government of Tajikistan composed of Islamic and democratic groups, and installed pro- communist rulers. In other regions, Russia prefers to flex its muscles by yanking the economic rug out from under a government -- as it did last week when Moscow began cutting off gas supplies to Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. Regardless of the medium, the message remains the same: Moscow holds -- and withholds -- the keys to survival in the near abroad. This is not so much imperialism, says former CIA Director Robert Gates, as it is an effort "to make a bad situation worse so that these...
...truly represents Russian moderation, has given the world a measure of how far Russian moderation has traveled in the past year. For months Russia has been interfering in neighboring republics, notably Georgia and Azerbaijan, to bring them under Russian domination. Withdrawal from the Baltics is stalled. And Belarus, which agreed to scrap its currency and restore the ruble, is in effect being economically annexed...
...spite of Yeltsin's pleas, Deputy Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar, the engineer of the reform train, said he would not remain in a government that was irresponsible enough to spend $500 million it does not have on a new - Parliament Building and to dilute its floundering ruble by bringing Belarus into a currency union with Russia. Gaidar finally walked out, explaining, "I cannot serve in the government and at the same time be in opposition to it." Yeltsin, Gaidar told TIME, "is trying to protect the reform process, but even Yeltsin is not God Almighty...
...clients' wives may not be so lucky. Turkey's Black Sea region has seen its divorce rate jump 20% in the past three years, along with an explosion of gonorrhea and syphilis -- all the result of the invasion of thousands of "Natashas," female traders from Moldova and Belarus in the former Soviet Union. . "Natasha yat asagi!" (pronounced Natasha yatashi) is the new mating call: Turkish for "Natasha, jump into bed!" The women swarm in with suitcases of cheap goods to hawk by day. By night they sell their services. The town of Hopa, which three years ago had no hotels...