NTV executives said Gazprom's investment will help launch five new satellite channels later this year and will not affect the network's editorial policy. NTV's news coverage in recent months has reflected a more pro-government slant than its coverage of last year's parliamentary campaign. The network's president, Igor Malashenko, joined President Yeltsin's campaign committee in March. The resolution appealed to the OSCE and the Council of Europe, protesting Estonia and Latvia's refusal to open additional polling stations in areas where large numbers of Russian citizens. While estimates indicate that about 50,000 Russian citizens live in Latvia, and 90,000 in Estonia, only around 7,500 and 15,000, respectively, voted in the December 1995 Duma election.
Russian officials blame the low turnout on the lack of polling stations.
Estonia recently decided to permit a fourth polling station in a Tallinn suburb, and has offered to open more but Moscow has rejected Tallinn's conditions. The next stop on Posavlyuk's regional tour is Baghdad. Volker Ruehe said that NATO does not plan to station nuclear weapons or foreign troops near Russia's borders when it expands into Central Europe, Reuters reported on 8 June. May. The IMF called upon the Central Bank to offset the inflationary impact by selling government bonds on the open market. The IMF acknowledged that the Russian government is facing budgetary problems but urged it to take steps to improve tax collection.