Bronevich will be Russia's first female governor. Meanwhile, in response to media reports of starving soldiers and rampant corruption in military procurement, First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksei Bolshakov told a Moscow meeting of government and military officials that military food supplies will now be centralized under the Federal Food Corporation. It will purchase only domestic food products, he added. Lebed addressed a closed-door session of the council in New York. Komsomolskaya pravda said the trip, only Lebed's second to the West, is part of his preparation for the 2000 presidential election.
Police have yet to find a motive for the killings.
Workers at the Pribaltiiskii military shipbuilding plant in Kaliningrad Oblast have been on strike for a week in protest against a five-month delay in wage payments, ORT reported on 19 November. A number of the plant's employees have also gone on hunger strike. The yard is the biggest enterprise in the oblast. The Duma argues that it is unconstitutional to grant judicial and investigative functions to a presidential body. The VChK held its third meeting behind closed doors on 19 November, NTV reported.