UKRAINIANS BELIEVE PRESIDENTIAL POLL RESULTS WILL BE FALSIFIED. In a 1-12 September poll conducted among 1,200 Ukrainians by the Kyiv-based Institute of Politics, only 5 percent of respondents said they believe that the results of the 31 October presidential elections will not be falisified, Interfax reported on 30 September. Of those polled, 43.9 percent said the ballot will be falsified to a large degree and 26.7 percent said it will be falsified somewhat. The remainder were unable to answer the question. According to the same poll, 60.6 percent of respondents have not yet decided for whom they will vote in the elections. JM

TBILISI FEARS MOSCOW WANTS TO INVOLVE GEORGIA IN CHECHEN CONFLICT. Levan Aleksidze, a foreign policy adviser to Georgian President Shevardnadze, said that he fears Moscow may want to push Chechens into fleeing to Georgia and then use that as an excuse to attack his country, Interfax reported on 30 September. "If the Georgian side lets the Chechens in," he said, "Russia will start destroying them in Georgia." Meanwhile, Georgian Interior Minister Kakha Targamadze denied in Kyiv that Georgia has anything to do with the supply of arms to the Chechens, ITAR-TASS said. PG