The Supreme Court on 21 July overturned a ruling by the Supreme Court of the Republican of Bashkortostan, which had upheld the legality of rescheduling the republican presidential election for 14 June. The high court asked the Bashkortostan court to consider the case again. Incumbent Murtaza Rakhimov easily won the race, but critics subsequently filed suit, charging that the election date was illegally moved up, ``Vremya-MN'' reported on 22 July. Had the vote been held in December, when Rakhimov's term was due to expire, the incumbent would have been ineligible to run for re-election. Acting on an inquiry from the Bashkortostan legislature, the republican Constitutional Court recently approved the rescheduling of the election (see ``RFE/RL Newsline'', 17 July 1998). But ``Vremya-MN'' said either the Bashkortostan or federal Supreme Court could still annul the election. LB

Aleksei Simonov, the head of the Glasnost Defense Foundation, and more than a dozen prominent human rights activists have urged prominent chess players and national chess federations to boycott the upcoming World Chess Olympic Games in Elista, Kalmykia, RFE/RL's Moscow bureau reported on 22 July. Kalmykian President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov also heads the world chess federation FIDE. In an open letter, the human rights activists repeat allegations widely publicized in the Russian media, saying the ``Chess City'', where the games will take place, was built with money misappropriated from federal funds to Kalmykia and child allowances meant for the republic's residents. The appeal also notes that last month, the body of Larisa Yudina, the editor of ``Sovetskaya Kalmykia Segodnya'', was found in a pond next to the ``Chess City''. Yudina's newspaper was the only publication in Kalmykia that regularly criticized and investigated Ilyumzhinov's administration. LB

23 июля 1998г. Радио ``Свобода'' / ``Свободная Европа'' --- Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty