LOCAL NEWS

KREMLIN MONITORING RADIO LIBERTY

MOSCOW - The Kremlin's chief spokesperson on Chechnya said Monday that the government will closely follow Radio Liberty's coverage of the conflict and may revoke the U.S.-funded station's license to broadcast in Russia if it sees the programming as pro-separatist.

SMOKES FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO QUIT

VORONEZH, Central Russia - Tobacco giant Philip Morris turned him down, and RJ Reynolds wrote a polite but declining letter.

But Vyacheslav Zakharov, 50, didn't give up.

NATIONAL NEWS

FAST-TRACK VISAS SET, BUT DETAILS YET VAGUE

Foreign tourists from some Western countries visiting St. Petersburg for 72 hours or less will be able to purchase visas at the border as of Feb. 1, the Foreign Ministry confirmed this week.

Under the long-awaited plan, such visas will cost $35 and will be available at Pulkovo International Airport and at the Torfanovka checkpoint on the Russian-Finnish border.

SLEW OF TV6 HOPEFULS LINING UP FOR TENDER

With two months to go before the tender for new broadcasting rights on the former TV6, two top contenders dropped out of the race Monday, while everyone from TV6 majority shareholder Boris Berezovsky to the head of Russia's Olympic Committee weighed in with plans for the station and its journalists.

HELICOPTER CRASH KILLS SENIOR OFFICIALS

A military helicopter exploded and crashed in Chechnya on Sunday, killing 14 people, including a deputy interior minister.

Conflicting reports emerged about the cause of the crash, with some officials blaming it on a surface-to-air missile fired by separatists, and others saying it appeared to have been an accident.

CIVILIANS MARCH TO PROTEST ARMY MOPPING-UP TACTICS

About 500 people demonstrated in the Chechen capital on Sunday to protest against mopping-up operations where people are detained and interrogated about possible links to rebels.

UZBEKS VOTE ON LONGER PRESIDENTIAL TERM

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan - Uzbek President Islam Karimov, casting a vote on a referendum to extend the presidential term by two years, said Sunday its approval would strengthen democracy in Uzbekistan.

The referendum was approved in December by the Uzbek parliament, which is made up of Karimov loyalists.

FOUNDATION TO STEP UP NAZI SLAVE PAYMENTS

MOSCOW - The Russian foundation in charge of supervising payments to former Nazi slave workers intends to boost the number of payouts from about 1,000 survivors to 20,000 survivors a month, officials said Friday.

LOCAL BUSINESS

DEBT-SALE DEAL HAS CZECHS UP IN ARMS

MOSCOW - The more details that emerge from the secretive and complex scheme that reduced Russia's debt to the Czech Republic by $2.5 billion last month, the more mysterious it gets.

On Monday, a Russian non-profit organization that can't be located joined the known list of players in the deal - the governments of both countries, United Energy Systems, Gazprom, Rosenergoatom and a shady Czech company called Falkon Capital.

VNESHTORGBANK HEAD SAYS SPLIT-UP PLAN SET

MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin has approved a two-stage plan to split ownership of Vneshtorgbank, the country's second-largest bank, between the government, the Central Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Vneshtorgbank chairperson Yury Ponomaryov said Friday.

IN BRIEF

Baltic Beer Buy

HELSINKI, Finland (Reuters) - Finnish beverages maker Hartwall said Monday that its Baltic Beverage Holdings arm would buy a-70 percent stake in a regional Russian brewer, strengthening its position in the country's growing beer market.

WORLD WATCH

Beer Co. Bonding

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (AP) - Miller Brewing Co. is reportedly discussing a merger with a pair of United Kingdom-based breweries and could announce a deal as early as March.

OPINION

JUST TWO OUT OF THREE IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH

TEN years ago, President Boris Yeltsin and his newly minted government launched a set of revolutionary changes comparable in scale and scope with the French Revolution and the Bolshevik Revolution. Like these earlier social revolutions, Yeltsin and his band of revolutionaries sought to transform the fundamental organization of the polity and economy within Russia.

PETERSBURG'S NEW IMAGE-MAKER

IN recent weeks, I've started to get the impression that Muscovites genuinely hate Petersburgers. Of course, there has always been that traditional rivalry between the two cities, accompanied by certain animosities, but I never really paid it that much attention before.

Chris Floyd's Global Eye

Enron the Great, "the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth," has fallen. The vast wake of its collapse has covered the White House with stinking pitch and occasioned much excited comment among the punditry. Unfortunately, most of these editorial exhalations have veered between tortured defenses of the Dear Leader and gleeful gibes of the most unnuanced sort: e.

WORLD

WORLD WATCH

Dalai Lama Admitted

BOMBAY, India (AP) - Looking weak but still smiling, the Dalai Lama was admitted into a Bom bay hospital on Sun day after doctors detected a lump in his stomach.

Wearing his red Buddhist robe, the supreme leader of Tibetan Buddhists walked into Lilawati Hospital with the help of aides.

SPORTS WATCH

Correct Change Please

LONDON (Reuters) - Arsenal has vowed to hold its own inquiry into a missile-throwing incident during its fourth-round FA Cup match against Liverpool on Sunday, and said the perpetrator would be banned from their grounds for life.