The Railway Ministry's military protection administration has been put on an emergency footing because of the number of bomb alerts on Russia's railways in recent days, ITAR- TASS reported on 29 July. The number of patrols on trains and stations has been increased following one explosion and three attempted bomb attacks in the past 10 days. The protest began on 24 June but was temporarily suspended during the presidential elections. The largest part of Russia's gold reserves will be moved to Sverdlovsk Oblast, President Yeltsin's home region, NTV reported on 29 July. During World War II, part of the gold reserves was also moved to Sverdlovsk Oblast.
Experts say that dispersing the reserves increases security.
A round table of businessmen and parliamentarians from Russia and the U.S. met in London on 29 July and called for a redoubling of efforts to remove administrative and legal barriers to foreign investment in Russia, ITAR-TASS reported. However, First Deputy Speaker of the Duma Aleksandr Shokhin urged that projects include provision for the purchase of equipment from Russian manufacturers. Foreign investors were shocked by the Duma's failure on 19 July to pass amendments to bring existing legislation into conformity with the production sharing law passed last year. Some decrees were illegal, he said. Babilashvili's statement could herald the arrest of former Prime Minister Tengiz Sigua, who was dismissed by President Eduard Shevardnadze in 1993 and was compromised by his support in early 1995 for the abortive crusade by former Defense Minister Tengiz Kitovani to reconquer the breakaway region of Abkhazia.